Heilman, Robert Bechtold 1906-

Robert Bechtold Heilman was born in Philadelphia on July 18, 1906, to Edgar James Heilman, a Lutheran minister, and Mary Alice Bechtold Heilman. He grew up in Elizabethville and Easton, Pennsylvania, and attended Easton High School and Lafayette University. Even at an early age, Heilman was a gifted scholar, writer, and lecturer, giving both the salutatory speech at his high school commencement and the valedictory speech upon reception of his bachelor's degree in English in 1927. From 1922 to 1926 he was a student reporter for the Easton Free Press and also wrote a regular column on student viewpoints titled "Lafayette, We Are Here." He served as a teaching fellow in 1927-1928 at Tufts University, where he met his future wife, Ruth Champlin. Heilman received his Ph.D. in English from Harvard in 1935 with his thesis The English Novel, 1760-1800, and the American Revolution .

Heilman taught at Ohio University from 1928 to 1930, and at the University of Maine from 1931 to 1935, but his first major appointment was at Louisiana State University, where he taught from 1935 to 1947. While at LSU he developed professional and personal relationships with a number of prominent southern writers and critics, many of whom were involved in the "New American Criticism" movement. He maintained these connections throughout his life. In 1948 Heilman joined the University of Washington faculty, as chair of the English department, with five other outside appointments, including the famed poet Theodore Roethke. Roethke initially distrusted Heilman, but in time they became close friends and Heilman became one of Roethke's staunchest defenders, vouching for his character and teaching on several occasions. Heilman's most notable defense of Roethke came in the form of a persuasive letter (found in box 4, folder 26) to UW Vice President Frederick Thieme at a time when state legislators were questioning the decision to give Roethke unpaid leave during his bouts of manic depression.

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