This article is from the archives of the UB Reporter.
Our Colleagues

Obituaries

Published: December 8, 2011

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Dec. 11 in Amigone Funeral Home, 1132 Delaware Ave., for Ronald Hauser, UB professor emeritus of German literature who died on Dec. 2 in his Buffalo home after a long illness. He was 84.

A UB faculty member for 28 years, Hauser taught 19th and 20th century German literature and was noted in his field for his books on Georg Buchner and Friedrich Hebbel.

He also was an avid supporter of Gruppe 47, an influential literary association begun by a group of German Jewish war prisoners in the United States who worked to re-establish the traditions of German literature after the Nazi era.

In addition to his faculty duties, Hauser also served as associate provost of arts and letters, as well as president of the Buffalo Center Chapter of United University Professions, the union representing UB faculty and professional staff.

He also was a skilled furniture craftsman, creating one-of-a-kind pieces that featured a combination of modern design and engineering.

Born in Stuttgart, Germany, the youngest of three children of a Jewish veteran of World War I, Hauser and his family were forced to flee from the Nazis in 1938 and settled in California. He served as a medic in the Pacific during World War II.

Hauser received a doctorate from the University of California-Berkeley and was a faculty member at Northwestern University, Smith College and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst before joining the UB German faculty in 1966. He retired in 1994.

He is survived by his wife, Claire Kahane, UB professor emerita of English.