Distinguished writer, poet, playwright, translator and editor Henry E. Beissel passed away on January 10, 2025. He was 95.
Beissel was a beloved professor of English literature at Concordia for 30 years and left an indelible mark on the university.
Beissel joined the Department of English at Sir George Williams University — one of Concordia’s two founding institutions — in 1966, having previously taught at the University of Munich in Germany, the University of Alberta and the University of the West Indies in Trinidad.
In the early 1970s, at the invitation of Concordia’s first rector John E. O’Brien, BA 45, Beissel developed and led a Creative Writing program that continues to thrive today at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. He became a full professor in 1976.
Beissel’s love of philosophy, history and literature also inspired the creation of another foundational program in 1978 — Concordia’s Liberal Arts College.
He was promoted to distinguished professor emeritus upon his retirement in 1996.
‘In this class we agree to disagree’
Former student Maria Montuori Caltabiano, BA 93, recalls Beissel as a dear friend, mentor and a poet whose wisdom and soul nurtured her own writing.
“I remember him saying, ‘In this class we agree to disagree’ — words I’ve adopted ever since; words he lived by,” said Caltabiano. “Among the many thoughtful dedications he wrote to me in dozens of his books, one from 1994 speaks to the world: ‘The frailty we share, is the root of all love’.”
Beissel was born in Cologne, Germany, in 1929 and emigrated to Canada at the age of 22. He pursued his graduate studies in English lit at the University of Toronto.
Beissel enjoyed a remarkable writing career with more than 30 publications to his credit that have received high critical acclaim in Canada and abroad. This includes 18 volumes of poetry and six books of plays, for both adults and young audiences. His work was translated into more than a dozen languages. He also translated the works of Bauer, Huchel, Ibsen, Mrozek, Dorst and Sophocles.
Beissel, pictured with his wife Arlette Francière, BFA 89, at Concordia’s 2016 Alumni Recognition Awards where he was recognized with Honorary Lifetime Membership.