Born in Pittsfield, MA, on March 22, 1929, Philip received his undergraduate education at the University of Arizona, Tucson, and his PHD in Romance Languages and Literatures from the University of California, Berkeley, where in an Italian literature class, he met his wife Mechthild, a native of Germany.
Together they enjoyed many trips abroad, frequently to international music festivals and their elective homes in Menton, France, and Berlin, Mechthild’s native city.
Philip Cranston began his teaching career in Paris, France, and retired as an emeritus professor of French from the University of North Carolina, Asheville.
He was an original poet and esteemed translator of poetry in four languages, a favorite mentor to many students and a devoted husband. His younger brother Ned, 86, continues to teach Japanese poetry at Harvard, whence he writes moving tributes to his brother Philip, who “created” him.
Philip died quietly as he had lived. Among his last audible wishes was a repeated, “Take me home”.
His favorite flower was the forget-me-not. Ned will not forget him, nor his deceased older brother Jack’s many children and grandchildren, or his own godchildren: Ursula Beate Dieterich-Pedersen of Denmark, Catherine Mathilde Blondon Huynh, of France, and Reinhold Friedrich Netz, of Germany. He continues to live in the loving memory of Mechthild, his wife for 57 extraordinary years.
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