Campus mourns passing of William Bradley

The campus community was saddened to learn earlier this week of the passing of Dr. William Bradley, the husband of Dr. Emily Isaacson. William died Monday after coping with cancer for nearly 20 years. Last fall, he had taken the position of interim director of the Writing Center and had been working with students as the advisor to The Kilikilik and as an adjunct instructor in the English Department. His work with students was personally rewarding to him and very much appreciated by the students.

William was a prolific writer and a highly creative individual. In addition to Heidelberg, he had taught English at colleges and universities in New York, North Carolina, Florida, Missouri and Michigan, and also had a background as a newspaper journalist, including as the local government reporter for The Advertiser-Tribune. Throughout his career, he gave many scholarly presentations at academic conferences and had multiple publications in literary journals. Additionally, he was the author of several books, book chapters and book reviews.  Professionally, he was a member of the Modern Language Association and the Association of Writers and Writing Programs.

On several occasions, William’s essays were published by Inside Higher Education. In his June 2, 2017 essay, he wrote about how his illness and having to relearn certain skills was an excellent reminder about the difficulty of the writing process for students just entering college.  William’s very touching comments about Emily and about his expectations for a long-term healthy recovery and make his passing especially painful for all of us who knew him. (You can read his essay here.)

A Celebration of Life for William will take place on Saturday, September 16, at 4 p.m. in Ohl Concert Hall, Brenneman Music Hall. The campus community is invited to attend.