IN MEMORIAM: Paul Jamieson

We invite you to share your memories and reflections of Professor Jamieson at our on-line memory book.
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We have lost a legend among St. Lawrence faculty today, as we mourn the passing of Professor Emeritus of English Paul Jamieson.  Professor Jamieson died peacefully this morning at the age of 103, leaving a life that influenced countless generations of scholars and Adirondack writers, advocates and explorers. 

Paul Jamieson’s first career helped shape St. Lawrence’s English curriculum.  After receiving his B.A. at Drake University, his M.A. at Columbia University, and his Ph.D. at Cornell University, he taught for three years at Drake and then began, in 1929, his 36-year tenure at St. Lawrence.   Except for three years serving in the United States Army, 1942-1945, Professor Jamieson spent three decades influencing young writers and scholars of English literature here; his scholarship focused on 19th century English and American poets.

Following retirement, he began a second career as an Adirondack writer, explorer and advocate.  He was the author of Adirondack Canoe Waters: North Flow (guidebook) and his autobiography Uneven Ground.  He published extensively on Adirondack subjects in magazines, books and the Encyclopedia Americana; he edited The Adirondack Reader (an anthology that has been called “a one-book library of all things Adirondack”); the Man of the Woods (a memoir by Wanakena guide Herbert Keith) and Adirondack Pilgrimage (a collection of his writings). He also contributed to Rushton and His Times in American Canoeing.

Professor Jamieson was a member of numerous conservation and environmental organizations, including the Adirondack Mountain Club (he was an honorary life member and a founding member of its Laurentian Chapter) and the Adirondack 46ers, having climbed all Adirondack peaks over 4,000 feet in altitude. He was instrumental in opening numerous Adirondack waterways to public boating, and in state acquisition for public access of numerous parcels of Adirondack land, such as Lampson Falls and Everton Falls. He served as an advisor to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the Adirondack Park Agency and the US Department of the Interior on river corridors.

Among numerous honors, he accepted honorary doctorates from St. Lawrence (1980) and Paul Smith’s College (2002); St. Lawrence’s North Country Citation, the Nature Conservancy’s Stewardship Award, the Adirondack Mountain Club Distinguished Volunteer Award, and the Adirondack Museum Founder’s Award.

Paul’s wife Ruth Kirby Jamieson passed away in 1989; he is survived by his sister Mary E. Carlson of Los Angeles.  He maintained close friendships with so many members of the Canton and North Country community; he’ll be missed dearly by us all.  A private service will be planned at the Unitarian-Universalist Church at a time to be determined.   Ann and I join all of you among the faculty, alumni and friends who loved and admired this venerable man and extend our heartfelt sympathies for our shared loss.

President Daniel F. Sullivan
November 4, 2006