It is with sadness that we note the passing of our colleague Virgil Nemoianu.
Dr. Nemoianu's primary appointment in the University was in the Department of English. Since 1993 he has been the William J. Byron Distinguished Professor of Literature. Dr. Nemoianu came to Catholic University in 1979 and was promoted to the rank of ordinary professor in 1985. From 1979-1994 he directed the Program in Comparative Literature and served as Associate Academic Vice President for Graduate Studies from 1989-1991. In 1998 Dr. Nemoianu was given a joint appointment as ordinary professor in the School of Philosophy. He offered a number of courses on aesthetics. He was named a professor emeritus following his retirement in 2016.
After studying and teaching in his native Romania, Dr. Nemoianu emigrated to the United States and earned a PhD in comparative literature from the University of California at Berkeley. He then held a succession of faculty appointments at the University of Cambridge, the University of London, Berkeley, and the University of Cincinnati before arriving at Catholic University. He also held a visiting appointment at the University of Amsterdam.
Dr. Nemoianu's interests and expertise ranged widely, but his particular focus was European romanticism. He was the author of numerous books, including The Taming of Romanticism: European Literature and the Age of Biedermeier (Harvard University Press, 1984), Theory of the Secondary: Literature, Progress and Reaction (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989), The Triumph of Imperfection: The Silver Age of Sociocultural Moderation in early 19th-Century Europe (University of South Carolina Press, 2006), Imperfection and Defeat: The Function of Aesthetic Imagination in Human Society (Central European University Press, 2006), and Postmodernism and Cultural Identities: Conflicts and Coexistence (Catholic University of America Press, 2010). Dr. Nemoianu published nine other books in Romanian and some 650 articles and reviews of various kinds in a number of languages.
Dr. Nemoianu's stature as a scholar is attested by many honors, among them: the Vatican Library Medal, the "Harry Levin" Award of the American Comparative Literature Association, the ARA Prize for Literature, the Catholic University of America Award for Excellence in Research, and the award for Lifelong Achievement of the Romanian Cultural Foundation. In 2010 the President of Romania awarded him the Order of the Star of Romania (rank of Commander), Romania's highest civilian award.
Dr. Nemoianu is survived by his wife, Anca, also a longtime member of Catholic University's faculty and his son, Martin, an alumnus of our School and member of the Department of Philosophy at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.
Eternal rest grant unto him, oh Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.