John Clark Pratt ’54

John Clark Pratt ’54 passed away on January 2 in Fort Collins, Colorado. John came to Dartmouth from Ridgefield, Connecticut. He attended Andover Academy. At Dartmouth John was a member of the jazz and marching bands, a member of ski patrol and a brother of Zeta Psi. In 1953 he “fell in love with the West,” and left Dartmouth. He received his B.A. from UC Berkeley and then earned an M.A. from Columbia and a Ph.D. in English and American literature from Princeton. John served in the U.S. Air Force from1954 to 1974, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was a jet instructor command pilot and a professor of English at the Air Force Academy. He served in Vietnam and Laos, where he was awarded the Air Medal and Bronze Star. After a Fulbright professorship at the University of Lisbon he became chairman of the English department at Colorado State University, resigning in 1980 to accept a second Fulbright fellowship at Leningrad State University in the U.S.S.R. He then returned to Colorado State until he retired in 2002. John wrote, published or edited more than 18 books, scholarly articles, poems and book reviews. He was predeceased by his wife, Doreen. John is survived by daughters Karen, Pamela and Sandra; son John; and stepdaughters Christine and Lynn.