Harnack, Curtis A. 1927-2013

HARNACK

Posted By: Mary Holub, volunteer (email)
Date: 8/5/2013 at 16:18:53

From: Le Mars Daily Sentinel, July 10, 2013

Curtis A. Harnack

Curtis A. Harnack, 86, of New York City, and a Remsen native, died Friday, July 5, 2013, at his home in New York City.

Curtis A. Harnack was born June 27, 1927, in Le Mars, the son of Henry and Caroline Harnack, of Remsen. He attended rural and Remsen schools. He graduated from Le Mars High School in 1944.

He attended Grinnell College for one year and then served in the U.S. Navy. He returned to Grinnell College and graduated in June 1949. He received a master of arts degree in English from Columbia University in New York in 1950.

He taught English at Grinnell College, the University of Iowa and Sarah Lawrence College in New York. He received a Fulbright Grant to lecture on American literature at Tabriz University in Iran for one year.

He married Hortense Calisher in 1959.

He served as executive director of Yaddo artists Colony at Saratoga Springs, N.Y., from 1971 to 1987.

He was chosen President of the School of American Ballet at Lincoln Center, N.Y., and served from 1992 to 1997, when he retired. The couple made their home in Manhattan, New York City.

His wife, Hortense, died in 2009.

Curtis wrote many books about life in Iowa, also "Persian Lions, Persian Lambs" about Iran and "Gentlemen on the Prairie," a story about the English Close brothers in northwest Iowa.

A book of memoirs he finished last year is being published this summer.

Survivors include a stepson, Mr. and Mrs. Peter Heffelfinger; three step-granddaughters and two step-great-grandchildren; a special cousin, Lois Allen, of Le Mars, and her children, Scott and Jennifer Allen of Remsen, and John and Judey Allen of Chesterfield, N.J.

Burial will be at a later date in the Remsen Cemetery.