Amherst, Normand Berlin, 83, died unexpectedly, his wife Barbara with him, on Monday, July 13, 2015 at his home in Amherst.

Born to Ben and Anna Berlin on the Lower East Side in New York City on December 6, 1931, he grew up in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn.  He attended Boys High.  He received his BA, Phi Beta Kappa, from New York University Uptown in 1953.  He then served two years in the army during the Korean War.  He was awarded a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship in 1955 and chose to attend Columbia University where he received his MA in English literature in 1956.  He earned his PhD in English literature from the University of California, Berkeley. 

Normand taught at McGill University from 1961-1965.  He joined the faculty of the English Department at the University of Massachusetts in 1965.  Through exchange and summer programs he also taught at Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, 1971-72; the University of Hawaii, 1974-75; the University of Manitoba, summer 1977; Dalhousie University, summer 1980; the University of Freiburg, Germany, 1983-84; Harvard University, summers 1987, 1989; Oxford University, summer seminars 1988 and 1991 (as director of the program); the University of British Columbia, summers 1992, 94, 96, 97.  He was Consultant and Lecturer at the Massachusetts Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies from 1997 to the present.

In 1976 Normand received the UMass Amherst Distinguished Teaching Award, the campus’s highest honor for classroom excellence; in 1989 the UMass Humanities Research Fellowship; in 1995 the Eugene O’Neill Bronze Medal; and in 2015 the Renaissance Center Medal, the center’s highest honor.  At the ceremony, Chancellor Kumble R. Subbaswamy said that through his teaching “Normand helped thousands understand the importance of humanities in our lives.”  He was a Rockefeller Foundation Resident Scholar in Bellagio, Italy, 2001, and a Visiting Scholar at the American Academy in Rome in 2005.

Normand was the author of five books, one casebook, and numerous articles ranging from medieval poetry to modern drama to film.  He was an invited lecturer on drama in the United States, Canada, Germany, Monaco, People’s Republic of China, and Japan.  Among his books are The Base String: The Underworld in Elizabethan Drama, O’Neill’s Shakespeare, which connects the two writers Normand taught and wrote about most, and The Secret Cause: A Discussion of Tragedy, which explores the tragic nature of human existence and its presentation in drama.  In this, his most notable book, Normand explores the mystery of tragedy found in the curve of a question mark.

Normand served on the Editorial Board of English Literary Renaissance, was Theater Editor of The Massachusetts Review, Advisory Editor of The Eugene O’Neill Review, and Advisor for the PBS documentary on Eugene O’Neill, “The Glory of Ghosts.”

Normand, along with Barbara, was a founding member of the Jewish Community of Amherst where he led services in the early years, was rabbi for two Bar-Mitzvahs, and was the driving force in creating the Jewish Community of Amherst cemetery located in Shutesbury. 

He served as a Town Meeting member for the town of Amherst.

In 1956 Normand married Barbara Esther Schoenberg of Brooklyn, NY.  The couple moved to Berkeley, California the day after their wedding.  They lived in Berkeley for four years where their son Adam was born.  They moved to Montreal where their son David was born, and lived there for four more years.  In 1965 they came to Amherst.  Their travels took them around the world, including year-long stays in Jerusalem, Honolulu, and Freiburg. 

In 2013, Normand became a grandfather to Gali Berlin.

Normand and Barbara walked through Amherst every day, hand in hand.

Donations in Normand’s name can be made to the Jewish Community of Amherst, 742 Main Street, Amherst, MA 01002 or The Massachusetts Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies, Post Office Box 2300, Amherst, MA 01004.

Obituary and memorial register at www.douglassfuneral.com

Service details, Social networking, Memorial Guestbook and Slideshow are available here.