NIU mourns death of English professor

Gustaaf Van Cromphout of DeKalb, a beloved 37-year veteran English professor at NIU, died Thursday, Sept. 1, at OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center in Rockford. The 67-year-old professor had been hospitalized since Saturday, Aug. 27, after suffering a brain hemorrhage.

NIU Department of English Chair Deborah Holdstein said Van Cromphout was a scholar, teacher, mentor, trusted adviser and friend.

“There are few among us who profoundly touch the lives of all they meet,” Holdstein wrote in a message posted on the English department's Web site. “Gustaaf was such a person. By his very essence, he raised the standard by which we all hope to live; his spirit and legacy of intellectual accomplishment and compassion remain with us all. His memory will be a blessing.”

A native of Belgium , Van Cromphout earned both his bachelor's and master's degrees from the Belgian University of Ghent and his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota .

He arrived at NIU in the fall of 1968. Believed to have spoken and translated nearly a dozen languages, Van Cromphout was a scholar's scholar who specialized in comparative literature with a particular expertise in American transcendentalism.

“He was an outstanding prodigious scholar but he also had a true passion for teaching,” Holdstein said. “He once learned Portuguese just so he could direct a student's dissertation. The graduate students saw him as a mentor of unsurpassed quality and education. Students who had known him only a week had tears in their eyes.”

In addition to his devotion to teaching and scholarship, Van Cromphout was highly involved in service to NIU at the department, college and university levels. “We all know the old saw about shoes that are impossible to fill,” Holdstein added. “In this case, it's true.”

Information on funeral services is pending but will be posted on the NIU Department of English Web site at www.engl.niu.edu.

9-2-05