Professor Sven Magnus Armens

ARMENS, NYDEN, DANAHY, NELSON, CONSTANTINIDIS, KOHL

Posted By: Tara (email)
Date: 12/23/2011 at 14:57:03

Professor Sven Magnus Armens, the son of Swedish immigrants, died Tuesday, December 20th, 2011, at Mercy Hospice in Iowa City. The family will greet friends on Friday, December 23rd from 5-7 pm at Lensing Funeral Home, 605 Kirkwood Avenue, Iowa City. Burial will be at a later date in Boston. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be directed to The Salvation Army or to the Iowa City Animal Center Foundation.
Sven was born August 11th 1921 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Magnus and Ruth [Nyden] Armens. He married Kathleen Danahy of Boston in 1942. He received his A.B. [summa cum laude] in English from Tufts University in 1943. He served in the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Army during the Second World War. He attended Harvard University and received his M.A. in 1947 and his Ph.D. in 1951.
After a teaching fellowship at Harvard he came to the University of Iowa as an instructor in English in 1950. For many years he was the director of the departmental Honors Program. He was the author of three books, John Gay, Social Critic (1954), Archetypes of the Family in Literature (1966), and a lengthy poem, In the Vernacular (1990). He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the International Association of University Professors of English, and the Modern Language Association. He retired as a full Professor from the University of Iowa in 1987.
Survivors include his wife Kathleen, his son Karl and his wife Dorothy [Nelson] Armens of Iowa City; his daughter Sharon Constantinidis of Columbus Ohio; and five grandchildren: Paul, Andrew & Michael Armens, and Aaron & Amber Kohl. He was preceded in death by his parents.
The family would like to express their sincere appreciation to Iowa City Hospice.