CHARLOTTESVILLE (AP) — John Graham, a children’s book author and longtime University of Virginia professor, has died of natural causes. He was 80.
Mr. Graham died July 16 at his Charlottesville home, the university said in a news release. He wrote two best-selling children’s books — “A Crowd of Cows” in 1968 and “I Love You, Mouse” in 1976. His late wife, novelist Alexandra Ripley, was best known for writing “Scarlett,” the sequel to Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone With the Wind.”
Mr. Graham’s son, John R. Graham, called his father an old-fashioned academic who was not interested in making money or competing with colleagues.
“He favored pure learning for its own sake,” he said. “He was sort of a romantic figure. He loved learning.”
Mr. Graham worked at the university from 1958 to 2003, teaching courses in speech and English, specializing in 18th-century literature, romanticism, aesthetics, comedy, satire, rhetoric and children’s literature.
“He instilled a kind of loyalty in his students that made his classes almost like a fraternity,” English professor John Sullivan said.
Mr. Graham also was known for his quirky sense of humor. His children recalled awakening to their father quoting Satan in “Paradise Lost”: “Awake, arise or be forever fallen!”
Mr. Graham’s son said his father had been preparing for a new printing of “A Crowd of Cows” when he died.
Mr. Graham is survived by his four children, a brother and two sisters. A memorial service will be held Aug. 29 at the university chapel.
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