Collegiate Times

Retired American Studies Professor and Author Dies

Long-time professor of American Studies and Popular Culture at Virginia Tech, Marshall Fishwick, died early Monday morning at his home in Blacksburg. Considered by many scholars to be one of the founding fathers of popular culture studies, Fishwick wrote or edited dozens of books, including ?Probing Popular Culture On and Off the Internet,? ?From Cavespace to Cyberspace? and ?American Heroes: Myth and Reality.? His latest book, ?Cicero, Classicism, and Popular Culture,? is a look at the Roman orator Cicero, and is scheduled to be released by Haworth Press, Inc. later this year.

Fishwick came to Virginia Tech in 1976, following tenures at Washington and Lee University and Lincoln University. As a professor of humanities, he served in the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies until his retirement in 2003. ?I?ve worked with him since I came to the department in 1979,? said Elizabeth Fine, chairperson of the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies. ?He was one of the most active and dedicated people I?ve ever known,? she continued.

During his 27-year stay on Tech?s campus, Fishwick was instrumental in the creation of the American Studies concentration, received outstanding faculty member accolades and created the journal International Popular Culture.

?His passing is the passing of an era in popular culture studies. He really was one of the founding fathers, the founding members of popular culture,? said Gary Hoppenstand, a professor of the department of American thought and language at Michigan State University and editor of the Journal of Popular Culture.

In addition to teaching several courses and creating a new interdisciplinary studies concentration, he contributed articles and letters to newspapers and journals across the United States and around the world. ?He was always very authentic in his writing ? a wonderful and genuine human being,? said Michael Herndon, a professor in the Virginia Tech interdisciplinary studies department.

Having been awarded eight Fulbright awards and numerous grants, he spread popular culture studies across Europe, Asia and the United States. The Marshall Fishwick Travel to Popular Collections Grant was named in his honor and is a $500 award given by the Popular Culture Association to encourage the study of popular culture. ?In the field, he was a giant,? Hoppenstand said.

In 1997, Fishwick was awarded the Ray and Pat Browne lifetime achievement award by the Popular Culture Association in recognition of his achievements in the field.

The funeral service will take place at Christ Episcopal Church in Blacksburg today at 11 a.m. A reception will be held after the ceremony. The family requests that gifts be made to the Leyburn Library at Washington and Lee University in lieu of flowers.

Fishwick is survived by his wife, Dr. Ann La Berge (Fishwick), four children, the Reverend Jeffrey Fishwick, Ellen McLean, Susan Green, and Lucy Reinhardt, two step-children, Leigh Claire and Louisa La Berge, and thirteen grandchildren.

He was 83 years old.