Robert Michael Pugh ’66

Robert Michael Pugh ’66 passed away on February 3 after a brief illness. Michael was surrounded in his final days by those he loved and who loved him, and passed with his sister, Susan, at his bedside. Michael taught English at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) in Manchester for 25 years. He loved teaching, reading, family, friends, food, and music, especially opera. He was beloved by his students, colleagues, friends, and family, all of whom regarded him as a kind, gentle man with a tremendous sense of humor and grand intelligence. He was often amused, but never at anybody else’s expense. Michael was born and raised in Illinois and moved to Plymouth, New Hampshire, after his junior year in high school. He graduated from Plymouth High School and was awarded a town scholarship to attend Dartmouth, where he majored in English and enjoyed performing in several theatrical productions. He served in the Peace Corps for two years in Nigeria and remained in Nigeria for four more years, teaching at the Mayflower School in Sokoto and serving as the director of a camp reuniting families separated during the Biafran War. He earned his master’s in English in 1986 from William Patterson College in New Jersey and Ph.D. in English from the University of New Hampshire in 1994. At UNH he taught composition to students whose first language was not English. Michael is survived by Susan, nephew Caleb and his wife, Marianne; and nephew Jared and his wife, Natasha.