Terrence Des Pres

Terrence Des Pres (1939 – November 16, 1987) was an American writer and Holocaust scholar.

Life Terrence Des Pres was born in Effingham, Illinois in 1939. He graduated from Southeast Missouri State College in 1962. He went on to graduate study in philosophy

He was married twice, and had a son with his first wife.

Work Beginning in 1973 Des Pres was a professor at Colgate University, where he held the William Henry Crawshaw Chair in Literature; At Colgate, he spent time with writer Frederick Busch.

Des Pres is best known for his work on the Holocaust documented in his book The Survivor: An Anatomy of Life in the Death Camps.

He also wrote Praises & Dispraises, published posthumously in 1988, which dealt with poetry and its usefulness for survival.

Death Des Pres died on November 16, 1987, at his home in Hamilton, New York. According to a 1990 Boston Globe article, he died by hanging.

After his death, poet Paul Mariani spoke at a service for Des Pres at Colgate, where they may have spent time together as Mariani worked on his master's degree.