Richard Thomas Neuse, Ph.D.

Richard was born in Schlohau, Germany on February 24, 1931 to Heinrich Kurt Neuse and Rose Vickery Neuse, both Quakers. In 1933, the family moved to Ommen, Holland where the Quakers had established a school, Eerde (currently Eerde International School). This is where he, his parents and his three sisters lived until the end of WWII. Richard spent one year in England before emigrating with his family to the US in 1947 to upstate New York after Kurt obtained a teaching position at St Lawrence University (SLU). Richard, then 16, attended SLU, receiving his BA cum laude in 1950. Richard got his PhD in English Literature from Yale University, which is also where he met his wife, Marjorie (Maggie), also a Yale graduate student. Their first child, Thomas, was born in 1955. In 1955 Richard began his teaching career at RPI in Troy, NY, before joining URI faculty a year later where he taught as a professor of English literature for 47 years until his retirement in 2003. He and Maggie had two more children, Valerie and Milena (Mia). They had been married for 52 years when Maggie died in 2008. Richard was briefly married a second time to Lee Mania in 2012. Richard is survived by his sisters, Julia Berger and Elizabeth Neuse, his son, Thomas, his wife Amelia, and his daughter, Milena (Mia) Neuse, her husband Arnon and their daughter, Lilith, and is predeceased by his wife, Maggie, and his daughter, Valerie Neuse and sister, Sabine Bosma. Richard was conversant in German, French, Italian, Dutch and Spanish. He published a book, Chaucer's Dante, in 1991, as well as numerous literary papers in select journals throughout his career. In lieu of flowers, it is Richard's wish that donations be made in his name to Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Doctors Without Borders. There will be a service at the New Fernwood Cemetery in Kingston, RI, on Monday, June 20th at 2pm followed by a gathering of family and friends at Richard's home in Kingston. For guest book and condolences, averystortifuneralhome.com.