Herschel Strauss Shohan died on Jan. 4.  He was born in Pittsburgh, PA to Jacob B. Shohan and Marcia Strauss in 1928.  He attended school in West Orange, NJ, and graduated from Ethical Culture Fieldston high school in Riverdale, NY.

After receiving his B.A. from Oberlin College in 1950 with a major in English, Herschel was accepted at Harvard Law School but, after a year, he found it uncongenial to his abilities and interests.  This caused him to lose his student deferment, and he was subsequently drafted into the US Marines during the Korean War. 

Herschel’s typing skills placed him in the squadron office of the new Marine Air Wing at Cherry Point, NC.  He ended his 2-year tour in a Marine air squadron base in Edenton, NC. 

In 1956, Herschel earned an M.A. with honors in English at Columbia University, with a concentration in early American literature. 

For several years, he wrote for various advertising firms in Manhattan, including J. Walter Thompson, where he served on various accounts. 

It was during this period that he met Jane Smithwick in a 6^th floor art gallery on upper Madison Avenue, on the last day of a Picasso show.  They enjoyed a Manhattan romance of a year and married in June, 1963.  The wedding took place in Jane’s pre-Civil War family home in Chester, SC.  Their happy 57-year marriage was a study in contrasts:  his mother’s parents and his father were Jews from Eastern Europe who had settled in Boston.  Jane’s family were devout Protestants from Northern England and Scotland, who had remained in the Carolinas since the 1600s.  He was an only child, she was the fifth of six children. 

As he continued his career in advertising, academia was still calling to Herschel.  In 1966 he re-enrolled at Columbia University, and received his Ph.D. in 17^th-century English literature. 

Herschel then taught at Hunter College in New York, NY.  Following that, he joined the faculty of the English Department at Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, OH; then that of North Adams State College (now the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts) in North Adams, MA. 

In his retirement, Herschel enjoyed a nine-year stint as co-founder of Playwrights in Progress, an organization dedicated to the staging of readings and productions of Western Massachusetts playwrights and playwright hopefuls.  By then Herschel and Jane had moved from North Adams to Amherst, MA, where Herschel pursued his many interests.  He studied Ancient Greek at UMass Amherst up to the Ph. D level, and took up the piano.  He was passionate about government, and was active in local politics. He also regularly attended the Unitarian Universalist Church in Amherst with Jane.  He was a dedicated runner throughout his adulthood, took yoga lessons weekly for decades, and exercised frequently, continuing right up until a few weeks prior to his death. 

Jane and Herschel moved from their home on Sheerman Lane in Amherst to the retirement community of Applewood in 2016.

Herschel was endlessly optimistic and engaged, and loved meeting up with friends for discussions of politics and other matters.  He had a deep fondness and respect for other people, and was known for listening to and showing a genuine personal interest in them.  He was gentle and thoughtful, with a penetrating intellect. 

He is survived by his beloved wife Jane, his daughter Jennine Pommier (Laurent) of Summit, NJ; son Ben Shohan of Northampton; and granddaughters Claire and Emily Pommier.