Cornell University Memorial Statement for Professor Albert Wilhelm Boesche (November 3, 1874 — November 30, 1973)

"A man of rare integrity, Professor Albert Wilhelm Boesche stands out in the memory of those who knew him for the generosity and kindliness of his nature, the vigor and humor with which he expressed himself on an infinite variety of subjects, and the thoroughness with which he treated the matter in hand. Colleagues in the German Department, students, neighbors, friends in town and gown — all were touched and enriched by his unique qualities.
  A. W. Boesche, as he signed himself even when writing to close friends, was born in the little seaport of Leer in northwestern Germany. His father and both grandfathers were lawyers and he would have followed their profession had not his father’s prolonged invalidism made this financially impossible. After completing his secondary schooling in the local ‘Gymnasium,' he emigrated in 1892 to America in the hope of finding an opening in the still flourishing German newspaper field here. He was disappointed in his expectations, however, and after some brief journalistic experience, he drifted about until he found employment with the mayor of Watertown, New York, Hiram Foote Inglehart, whose son was enrolled at Hamilton College. While earning his keep in the Inglehart home, he was encouraged to attend high school to improve his English. The principal, Eugene W. Lyttle, a Hamilton graduate and later Regents inspector, took a special interest in the young immigrant, urged him to prepare himself for a teaching career, and together with the Ingleharts loaned him the necessary funds.
  Admitted to Hamilton College as a sophomore, the young Boesche graduated as valedictorian of his class in 1897, but remained another year to earn his A.M. while serving as tutor in Latin. From 1898 to 1900 he taught Latin, Greek, and German at Plattsburg Normal School, then studied in Germany for a year at the University of Munich before proceeding to Rutgers College as instructor in German. In 1903 he went to Harvard University as part-time instructor and graduate student for a year, and in 1904 he went again to Munich, where he obtained his Ph.D. in 1905. There followed his first year at Cornell, as instructor in German, before he resumed his duties at Harvard in 1906. In 1910 he was called to Cornell as assistant professor, and he advanced to full professor in 1915. Named professor emeritus in July 1942, he gave a final year to Cornell as lecturer in his department. He was a member of Delta Upsilon, Phi Beta Kappa, the Modern Language Association of America, and the American Association of Teachers of German. 
  While his main field of interest was German syntax and style, Professor Boesche periodically gave courses in German literature and, before World War I, in German history and politics. In one of its 1932 issues, the Cornell Daily Sun praised his painstaking methods, through which, 'the alert student acquires considerable faculty in writing and speech.' He was a dedicated teacher who took a keen interest in his students, and who preferred to pass on to others in verbal rather than printed form the conclusions reached by his own voluminous reading. His
publications consist mainly of newspaper articles and reviews, and include a translation into English of a play by Frank Wedekind. While still at Harvard, he coauthored a booklet of exercises in German composition and contributed a literary appreciation of Carl Spitteler to the 'German Classics' series, for which he served as one of the revisers.
  Early in his career, Professor Boesche had at the request of the Berlin publishers made a stylistic revision of a translation into German of Archibald Cary Coolidge’s The United States as a World Power, though he asked that his name not appear on the title page. When approached in 1908 by Albert B. Faust, however, for a translation of the latter’s prize-winning work, The German Element in the United States, he declined the honor on the grounds that the 1,050 hours he figured it would take him to do a thorough job would prevent him from conscientiously performing his duties at Harvard and leave him no time for self-improvement. Nonetheless, he offered whatever help he was able to give, a generosity he extended continuously throughout his long life. Thus, while the name A. W. Boesche may rarely appear on a title page, it will be found in numerous prefaces as testimony to the countless hours he spent in proofreading, correcting, and refining the manuscripts of other authors.
  Describing himself as a follower of Schopenhauer, Professor Boesche nonetheless made constant efforts to combat his innate pessimism and to capture the moments of joy granted to mortal man. When world events justified his worst fears, he avoided any discussion that might cause hurt, although criticism on his part was always couched in kindly terms. Saddened and frustrated by what happened to the land of Goethe and Schiller to which he remained attached, and of which he felt himself a representative, he yet refused to become bitter. Behind his North German reserve, there pulsed a deep sensitivity and a compassion with all creation. His faithful companion, a fox terrier named Toby, seemed for some time to be part of the staff at Goldwin Smith Hall.
  'The sweetest guy in the world - not a mean streak in him,' is the way he was characterized by a neighbor in Forest Home, where he lived for thirty-six years with his wife, Hermine, nee Rossolt, formerly of Hanover, Germany, whom he had married in 1905. The Boesche home, in which their three sons grew up, remained a center of hospitality and community activity even in difficult times, while garden and fruit trees benefited friends and neighbors almost as much as the family. Customers around the cracker barrel and pot-bellied stove in Forest Home’s former country store could sit for hours spellbound by Professor Boesche’s lively accounts of his experiences and the jokes he liked to tell on himself. Adults and children alike were fascinated by his dramatic manner of discoursing on any topic from Goethe’s encounter with Napoleon to the latest acquired gadget.
  So intent was Professor Boesche always on the subject of his current special interest that accepting his generous invitations to a ride in his Ford or Star could involve a certain risk: one hand was constantly leaving the wheel as he gestured his points. On one occasion, while approaching a railroad crossing with a load of children, he interpreted a signalman’s frantic waving as merely a friendly greeting and, stopping neither discourse nor the car’s progress, he barely made it across the tracks in front of the oncoming locomotive.
  It was felt as a big loss when in 1948 Professor and Mrs. Boesche moved to Boonton, New Jersey, where all three sons, Frederick (called Fritz), Otto, and Enno were settled. Here Mrs. Boesche succumbed the following year to a protracted illness, a blow which affected Professor Boesche very deeply. Yet he was fortunate in that he could stay in his new home next to Enno’s and enjoy the devoted care of his sons and their families, today his survivors.
  He continued to be an avid reader of chiefly philosophical and scientific works and to follow world events with interest. He kept in touch with his old friends through frequent letters, never forgetting a birthday once it was noted down. Although he became housebound a year or two before his death, his thoughts and penmanship remained clear and beautiful until the end. He will always be remembered with affection and gratitude."