Judah Leon Stampfer

Background

Judah Stampfer was born on November 11, 1923 in Jerusalem, Israel; the son of a rabbi Eliyahu David Stampfer and his wife Nechama Malka (Frank) Stampfer. He also had a brother Joshua Stampfer.

Education

Stampfer graduated from the University of Chicago, earned a master’s degree in education from Columbia University in 1947, and later received his doctorate from Harvard University in 1959.

Career

Stampfer was a professor of English, teaching Shakespeare and rabbinical studies at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. An ordained rabbi, he was one of the few remaining members of the original Stony Brook faculty, having joined it as an assistant professor in 1960.

Jerusalem Has Many Faces (1950), his most critically acclaimed poem, came early in his writing career. His first novel, 1962’s Saul Myers, was noted for its passion and wit.

Stampfer also wrote articles on American taste in Nation magazine and authored occasional radio plays. Some of his scholarly works include The Tragic Engagement: A Study of Shakespeare’s Classical Tragedies (1969), and Face and Shadow: Approaches to the Modern Revolutionary Impulse (1972).

Judah Leon Stampfer died of pancreatic cancer on October 4, 1996 at a nursing home in Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States.

Achievements

• Judah Leon Stampfer was an outstanding poet. He made his mark with his award-winning ''Jerusalem Has Many Faces'' (1950).

Works

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  • Jerusalem Has Many Faces 1950
  • Sol Myers 1962
  • Face and Shadow: Approaches to the Modern Revolutionary Impulse 1972
  • The tragic engagement. A study of Shakespeare's classical tragedies 1969
  • John Donne and the Metaphysical Gesture
  • Father & Children

Membership

Stampfer was a member of the original Stony Brook faculty.

Connections

Judah Leon Stampfer was married to Doris Lanier Stampfer. They had a daughter, Dr. Diane Lanier Stampfer, and a son, Louis Lanier Stampfer.

Father:

Eliyahu David Stampfer

Mother:

Nechama Malka (Frank) Stampfer

Spouse:

Doris Lanier Stampfer

Brother:

Joshua Stampfer

Daughter:

Diane Lanier Stampfer

Son:

Louis Lanier Stampfer

References

• Contemporary Authors New Revision Series. Volume 154