Former Slavic studies professor dies at 89

Hannah Edgerton used to enjoy coming to Bloomington for Christmas and summer vacations to play checkers and listen to the stories from her grandfather, William B. Edgerton. Edgerton, who was a retired professor and former chair of the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, died Sunday at 89 years old, leaving behind stories of a life as a prominent international figure and a personable raconteur among his friends and colleagues. \n"I remember sitting around the dinner table as a little girl feeling really excited about coming to listen to Grandad and these heroic stories," said Hannah Edgerton, who is now a graduate student at IU studying art history and photography. "He used to tell just amazing stories about his experiences traveling around the world and doing relief work in Egypt, Poland and Germany around the time of the second world war."\nShelley Scott, an administrative assistant in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, only met Edgerton three years ago. Still, that was plenty of time to grow fond of his exciting stories. \n"He just had this wonderful little sparkle in his eye," Scott said. "He'd pick up his mail, and he would talk about when he was in Europe dealing with children, that he'd be picked up and detained by authorities for being a spy. And he just had this sweet smile, and he'd say 'They never held me for long!' You could tell what he did. It was reflected in his life."\nBefore coming to IU in 1958, Edgerton was a relief worker for the Society of Friends during World War II. Scott said Edgerton would often talk about that time in his life, when he is credited with discovering evidence of thousands of children forcibly relocated by the Nazis and starting a large-scale program to identify and return them to their families. \nIn 1954, Edgerton, was one of the first Americans to visit the Soviet Union as a member of a delegation of religious members invited by the state department. \nAfter receiving his Ph.D. in Russian Literature from Columbia University, Edgerton taught at Penn State, Michigan and Columbia. Once here, Edgerton founded and became the first president of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies. \nRonald F. Feldstein, chair of the Slavic Languages and Literatures department, said Edgerton made a number of key contributions to the field at IU. \n"He was a real combination of excellence in many ways," said Feldstein, who met Edgerton in 1976. "He was one of the major people to organize the Russian and Slavic field. He got started right after the war in the late 40s and 50s. He was a pioneer, a real pioneer."\nThere will be a memorial service for Edgerton 2 p.m. Saturday at the Bloomington Friends Meeting House, 3820 E. Moores Pike.