Honors director Richard Osberg dies at age 60

By Natasha Lindstrom

English professor Dr. Richard Osberg, who served as director of the honors program and the office of fellowships, died of unspecified neurological problems Wednesday. He was 60.

Osberg had a passion for medievalism and encouraging students to follow their dreams, and was hailed by students, faculty and staff as the quintessential Santa Clara professor.

"He was so bright, so knowledgeable, so kind," said English professor Simone Billings, a longtime friend and colleague. "He had great standards. He also had a marvelous sense of humor and sensibility."

Osberg's health issues were discovered only within the last month, days after Osberg received his 25-year teaching plaque at the faculty awards dinner on Sept. 11. Osberg left the university to be hospitalized during the first week of fall quarter.

Osberg came to Santa Clara in 1982, after teaching at California State Polytechnic University, Barat College and Hamilton College. He graduated with honors from Dartmouth College in 1969 with a bachelor's degree in English. In 1974, Osberg earned his Ph.D. in English and American literature from Claremont Graduate School.

Junior Michael Enright, founding member of the Honors Advisory Council, said Osberg was "the hardest working faculty member in terms of helping students achieve their goals."

"Not only was he an advocate for you, but he was very much almost a friend," said Enright.

Exemplar scholar

Osberg was an accomplished academic: He published dozens of reviews, encyclopedia entries and scholarly articles. In 1999, he received the President's Award for Distinguished Teaching, Scholarship and Service, and he was awarded at least 10 research grants since 1978. Osberg was a guest lecturer at Stanford University and spent the summers teaching abroad in England.

Fellow English professor Theodore Rynes, S.J., said he was "probably the most distinguished member of the English department."

Osberg would say there are two approaches to research, the cricket or the mole, said John Hawley, chair of the English department. The cricket jumps from topic to topic quickly, while the mole burrows himself in.

"He'd identify himself as the mole," Hawley said. "He would try to investigate things at ever-increasing levels of complexity and depth."

Dressing daily in sweater vests and ties, Osberg also had the look of a professional academic, yet students say he emitted an amicable presence that made everyone around him feel comfortable.

"He definitely held himself in a distinguished way, but it wasn't off-putting in any sense," said Osberg's former student, senior Jared Abercrombie. "He was completely approachable and genuine and forthcoming and caring."

Favorite professor

In the English department, Osberg taught courses in Chaucer, Middle English and introductory poetry. He also taught medievalism and the renaissance in Honors 12.

Osberg ran his classes like he conducted his research, emphasizing depth and complexity over breadth and speed.

"He didn't focus on the issues of grading, structure and all these things," said Enright, a student in his Honors 12 class. "He actually focused on the intellectualism of the class."

When Abercrombie studied abroad in Europe last year, he visited some of the places he studied in Honors 12 and sent Osberg photos of artwork and sites, such as the Abbey of St. Denis and the Baptistry doors in Florence, Italy.

"He got a kick out of it because this was a full year after I had taken this class," said Abercrombie.

The heart of the honors program

Carole Wentz, assistant to Osberg since 2003, smiled fondly while recalling the demeanor and unique facial expressions of her boss. She remembered Osberg with his bushy eyebrows and thick moustache, looking up over "his little half glasses."

"He looked like a professor, always wearing his ties, kind of British, like you would picture someone at Oxford," Wentz said.

"He was the consummate scholar and gentleman, always kind, always soft spoken," Wentz said.

Osberg took students with him to the national honors councils, where they developed the idea to form the Honors Advisory Council in 2006. Since then, the council has put together fundraisers for soldiers in Iraq, quantitative analyses of preferred honors courses and the President's Reading Series.

Senior Nicole Van Groningen, who traveled with Osberg to honors conferences, said he always did whatever he could to support and encourage the students' ideas.

"He was really interested in making real relationships with the students on a personal level," Van Groningen said, recalling how Osberg would invite students to his home for dinner and play the movie "Hamlet" on his 12-inch TV.

Enright, currently studying in Oxford because of efforts made by Osberg, said Osberg did everything he could to cultivate an intellectual, free-spirited program in which the students had the freedom to implement their own ideas.

"I think that just took an enormous amount of energy that really only he could produce," said Enright.

Since 2005, Osberg also served as director of fellowships, in which he assisted students applying for grants. One of Osberg's dreams was to see a Rhodes or Mitchell scholar come out of Santa Clara.

Senior Jessica Coblentz, awarded the Junior Provost Fellowship, worked closely with Osberg on her research and enrolled in his two-unit fellowship class last spring.

"I never heard a discouraging word from him, even when I thought my dreams were above my capabilities," said Coblentz.

Love for life

Osberg's passions extended far beyond campus. In his free time, he played tennis and went sailing. He was handy with woodwork and created wooden shield plaques the English department used to display student scholarship winners.

Osberg hosted holiday parties with his wife Sally, preparing song sheets and inviting faculty and staff to go caroling through the neighborhood, said Billings. He had a fine voice, and he was an expert at making Wassail, a traditional winter drink, Billings added.

Osberg loved good food and fine wine, but he was just as happy to be sitting eating pizza and drinking beer. "He said that he could eat pizza four nights a week, if his wife only would let him," Billings said.

'He will be sorely missed'

Abercrombie said he saw Osberg on campus just weeks before the start of fall quarter.

"I was just sitting out in the Mission Gardens against one of the palm trees. He came up, and of course he's in his sweater vest and blazer in the middle of summer. I was wondering about what this really unique-looking plant was in some corner of Mission Garden and he knew exactly what it was," Abercrombie said. "I didn't know where his knowledge ended."

Osberg engaged Abercrombie in an unexpected but welcome conversation, and the professor expressed his joy of recent grandfatherhood.

University President Paul Locatelli, S.J., expressed his sympathy for the Osberg family in a university-wide e-mail on Friday.

"All that he did -- in scholarship, teaching, service -- benefited students in very tangible ways," wrote Locatelli.

Osberg is survived by his wife Sally, daughter Jerusha and grandchild Curtis. Osberg's family was not available for comment.

Private services are being held this week in Maine, and details are forthcoming regarding memorial services in Mission Church.

Cards can be sent to Sally Osberg, c/o English department, 500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA, 95053.

Contact Natasha Lindstrom at (408) 554-4546 or nlindstrom@scu.edu.