Donald Russell

Donald Andrew Frank Moore Russell, (13 October 1920 – 9 February 2020) was a British classicist and academic. He was Professor of Classical Literature at the University of Oxford between 1985 and 1988, and a fellow and tutor of classics at St John's College, Oxford, from 1948 to 1988: he was an emeritus professor and emeritus fellow. Russell died in February 2020 at the age of 99.

Early life and education Russell was born on 13 October 1920 in Wandsworth, London, England. His parents were Samuel Charles Russell (1878–1979) and Laura Moore (1876–1966), both school teachers, who had married in 1912. His father saw service during the First World War in the Royal Flying Corps. In the Signals, he trained as a wireless operator. He was subsequently posted to the Japanese Military Attaché Section at Bletchley Park and became Senior Translator there. Having achieved the rank of lance corporal in the other ranks, he was granted an immediate emergency commission in the Intelligence Corps on 3 May 1944 in the rank of second lieutenant.

Academic career From 1948 to 1988, he was a Fellow of St John's College, Oxford, of which he was subsequently an emeritus fellow. As of October 2013, Russell was just the third fellow in the history of St John's to have reached the 65 year anniversary milestone of his election to the fellowship. From 1952 to 1978, he was a university lecturer in classical literature at the University of Oxford. He was Reader in Classical Literature from 1978 to 1985, and Professor of Classical Literature from 1985 to 1988.

Published works

Russell, Donald (1964). Longinus On the Sublime, Oxford: Clarendon Press. Russell, Donald (1972). Plutarch, London: Duckworth. Russell, Donald; and M Winterbottom (1972). Ancient Literary Criticism, Oxford University Press. Russell, Donald (1981). Criticism in Antiquity, London: Duckworth. Russell, Donald; and N G Wilson (1981). Menander Rhetor, London: Duckworth. Russell, Donald (1983). Greek Declamation, Cambridge University Press. Russell, Donald (1990). Anthology of Latin Prose, Oxford: Clarendon Press. Russell, Donald (1991). Anthology of Greek Prose, Oxford: Clarendon Press. Russell, Donald (1992). Dio Chrysostom, Orations 7, 12, 36, Cambridge University Press. Russell, Donald (1993). Plutarch: Selected Essays and Dialogues, Oxford University Press. Russell, Donald (1996). Libanius: Imaginary Speeches, London: Duckworth. Russell, Donald (2001). Quintilian: The orator’s education (Loeb Translation), Harvard University Press. Russell, Donald; and D Konstan (2005). Heraclitus: Homeric problems, Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature. Russell, Donald; and R Hunter (2011). Plutarch: How to Study Poetry, Cambridge University Press. Russell, Donald; Dillon, J and Gertz, S (2012). Aeneas of Gaza: Theophrastus with Zacharias of Mytilene: Ammonius (Ancient Commentators on Aristotle), Bristol Classical Press. 978-1780932095