Randall, John H. III (John Herman), 1923-2006

John Herman Randall III was born on November 26, 1923, in New York City, to Mercedes Irene Moritz Randall and John Herman Randall, Jr. He had one brother, Francis Ballard Randall, who was eight years younger. His father was an American philosopher, New Thought author, and Columbia University professor. John Randall III graduated from Columbia University in 1943 and entered Columbia’s medical school, but pivoted to studying American literature and American studies at the University of California at Berkeley, where he earned his master’s degree. He left Berkeley when the state of California insisted that all teachers, including university graduate assistants, sign a loyalty oath, instead moving to the University of Minnesota, where his doctoral dissertation, completed in 1960, was on the work of Willa Cather. He was a lecturer at Northwestern University 1955-1957, and at Wellesley College 1958-1960. He began teaching at Boston College in 1961, retired from full-time teaching in 1989, and taught part time until 1998. Randall died on February 7, 2006, at the Stone Institute nursing facility in Newton, MA. The John H. Randall III award was established at Boston College in his honor, to be given to the undergraduate student who writes the best essay on American literature or culture during the academic year.