Harold 'Hal' Bush, Ph.D.: 1956-2021
Maggie Rotermund
Senior Media Relations Specialist
maggie.rotermund@slu.edu
314-977-8018
Reserved for members of the media.
08/20/2021
Harold 'Hal' Bush, Ph.D., professor of English at Saint Louis University and scholar in the field of 19th and 20th Century American literature, died Aug. 18, 2021. He was 64.
Bush suffered a traumatic brain injury in January, following a fall down basement steps.
Bush was born Dec. 30, 1956 in Indianapolis, the son of Harold Bush Sr. and Mary Lyon. He earned his undergraduate, master鈥檚 and doctoral degrees from Indiana University.
He joined the faculty at SLU in 1998.
鈥淚 can say that Hal was a pillar of the Department of English,鈥 said Toby Benis, Ph.D., professor of British literature and chair of the Department of English. 鈥淎n internationally recognized expert in nineteenth-century American literature, particularly Mark Twain, Hal explored American culture through a Christian lens, broadly construed.鈥
Bush wrote or co-edited the books 鈥淐ontinuing Bonds with the Dead: Parental Grief and Nineteenth-Century American Authors,鈥 鈥淭he Mark Twain-Joseph H. Twichell Letters,鈥 鈥淎bove the American Renaissance: Continuing the Legacy of David Reynolds,鈥 鈥淟incoln in His Own Time,鈥 鈥淢ark Twain and the Spiritual Crisis of His Age,鈥 and 鈥淎merican Declarations: Rebellion and Repentance in American Cultural History.鈥 He was the author of the novel 鈥淭he Hemingway Files.鈥
鈥淗al Bush was a beloved teacher of American literature, known for his wry humor and engagement with cultural issues,鈥 said Sara van den Berg, Ph.D. professor emerita of English. 鈥淗e shared his love of American music in his popular course on America in the 1960s. His prolific journalism offered opinions about ideas and issues about the important issues of the day. His book on parental grief for the death of children, from Mark Twain鈥檚 daughter to Emmett Till, is a profound meditation on loss. In 鈥淭he Hemingway Files,鈥 Hal drew on his experiences in Japan to create a fictive solution to the real mystery of lost Hemingway manuscripts.鈥
Benis called Bush the department expert on Bob Dylan and popular culture of the 1960s. She said he had a strong connection to his students.
鈥淗al was a beloved figure by legions of students at SLU,鈥 Benis said. 鈥淗is ability to connect with students was evident in his courses and his end-of-semester parties at his home, which always drew a crowd of undergraduates.鈥
In 2016, Bush received the College of Arts and Sciences鈥 highest honor for undergraduate teaching in the Humanities, the Helen I. Mandeville Award. He was also a Fulbright scholar.
Bush was proceeded in death by his son Daniel. He is survived by his wife Hiroko Hara Bush; son Joseph Puglisi; three sisters, Cheryl Urrabazo, Karla Franko and Pamela Hagazy; a brother, Douglas Bush; and several nieces and nephews.
A memorial service later this year.