It is with great sadness that the ACCUTE office has heard of the passing of our colleague Herb Wyile. On a personal note, I can say that while Herb and I didn’t know each other well, we always made time to chat whenever we saw each other and he was always full of good will and collegial energy. He was also an active campus representative for ACCUTE, and we will miss him greatly. Our colleague Cynthia Sugars has asked to send along her thoughts, below. –Jason
[Cynthia later sent us this notice from Acadia to add to her post (pdf).]
Dear ACCUTE Colleagues,
It is with immense sadness that I write with news of the death of Herb Wyile, on Sunday morning, July 3rd. Herb was a widely respected and well-loved scholar of Canadian literature, and co-editor of the journal Studies in Canadian Literature/Études en literature canadienne. He was diagnosed with terminal cancer just two weeks ago. We were hoping that it could be turned around, but that was not to be. Those of you who talked to Herb at the Congress in Calgary, where he was his usual witty and ebullient self, will be shocked by this news, as were we at SCL/ÉLC. As of two days ago, Herb was still active at SCL/ÉLC, acknowledging his coming death with courage and dignity.
Herb was an exemplary scholar, a wonderful editor and collaborator, a generous colleague and mentor, and a treasured friend. As a researcher, he is best known for his two ground-breaking books, Speculative Fictions (McGill-Queen’s UP, 2002) and Anne of Tim Hortons (Wilfrid Laurier UP, 2011), the second of which was the winner of the Gabrielle Roy Prize in English Criticism. He was a razor-sharp editor, both in his position as co-editor of SCL/ÉLC and as editor of the widely cited collection Speaking in the Past Tense (Wilfrid Laurier UP, 2007). To all who were fortunate to know him, Herb was an exemplar of integrity, enthusiasm, good humour, and insight. His passing is an immeasurable loss to the Canadian literature community.
With great sadness,
Cynthia
Cynthia Sugars
Professor
Co-editor, Studies in Canadian Literature
Categories: News of Members
