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In Memoriam: Mervin Butovsky 

The Concordia community is deeply saddened by the passing of Professor Emeritus Mervin “Mesh” Butovsky on April 6.

Known for his lifelong commitment to scholarship and his deep love of the written word, Butovsky’s teaching focused on twentieth-century British and American literature and the history of American Literature, while his graduate seminars and research activities concentrated on modern Jewish writing, including the American-Jewish novel, Jewish writing in Canada, the fiction of Saul Bellow, and literature of the Holocaust.

He co-edited volumes of studies on the history and culture of the Montreal Jewish community and was involved in a project with Kurt Jonassohn to collect, publish and distribute the unpublished memoirs of Holocaust survivors in Canada. Butovsky taught at Concordia and its related institutions for four decades until his retirement in 1996.

He leaves to mourn his beloved wife Rebecca (Rivka) Caplan, his son Yaron and family, and many friends, both here and abroad. A funeral was held April 8 at Paperman & Sons and Butovsky was buried at the Hebrew Sick Benefit Association Cemetery. A guest book is available online until May 7: tinyurl.com/Butovsky.

Contributions in his memory may be made to Concordia’s Mervin Butovsky Memorial Scholarship Fund (online or by calling Brad Skog at ext. 3884).