Michael H. Seitz ’57

Michael H. Seitz ’57 died on December 16, 2022, at home in Manhattan, New York City. Michael left Dartmouth before graduation and spent his junior year in Paris with the Sweet Briar College program. The experience made a mark on him as indelible as his academic work in French poetry. He won a full scholarship to Harvard’s doctoral program in French languages and literature, completed his M.A. there, and went to University of Michigan to earn his Ph.D. He taught French for a number of years at Rutgers and Wilkes universities, then moved to Manhattan, where he pursued film, teaching at NYU, and writing reviews for The Progressive magazine. He taught study skills at City University of New York (CUNY) as adjunct faculty. A lifelong advocate of social justice, he was dismayed at the defunding of public education and exploitation of adjunct faculty. He became active in CUNY’s union of faculty and professionals, the Professional Staff Congress. Michael carried his passion for France, literature, and art with him throughout his life. He became an expert on Romanesque art and architecture. He and wife, Lois, also an academic, toured and lived in Europe from late spring until fall for many years. He loved opera, a focus of many trips to Europe. Though he thrived amid the cultural life of cities, he enjoyed the outdoors, a reason he attended Dartmouth. He liked surf casting in the ocean and freshwater fishing. Michael is survived by Lois, a daughter, and two sons.