Professor, administrator.
Born at Winkler on 25 April 1918, son of Isaac Sirluck and Rose Nitikman (1885-1936), he received a BA degree in English Literature from the University of Manitoba (1940), and MA (1941) and PhD (1948) degrees from the University of Toronto. During the Second World War, he fought overseas and received an MBE, being discharged from the military with the rank of Major.
He was Professor of Humanities at the University of Chicago (1946-1963) where he was one of the foremost authorities on the work of John Milton, writing Volume 2 of The Yale Milton. He was then Dean of Graduate Studies at the University of Toronto where he developed the School of Graduate Studies and was a motivator behind the building of the Robarts Research Library. He returned to Manitoba as President of the University of Manitoba (1970-1976).
He and wife Lesley Caroline McNaught (1920-2011) had a son and a daughter. He wrote his biography First Generation (University of Toronto Press, 1996). He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (1967) and served as President of the Toronto Arts and Letters Club (1990-1992). He received honorary doctorates from the University of Manitoba (1980), Queens University, and University of Toronto.
He died at Toronto, Ontario on 4 September 2013.
Birth registration, Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Obituary, Toronto Star, 5 September 2013.
We thank John Perrin for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 19 December 2021
Memorable Manitobans
This is a collection of noteworthy Manitobans from the past, compiled by the Manitoba Historical Society. We acknowledge that the collection contains both reputable and disreputable people. All are worth remembering as a lesson to future generations.
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