Oldfather, William Abbott (1880–1945)

Classicist. His work was strongly influenced by the classicists at the University of Munich, where he took his PhD (1908). He founded and expanded the classics library at the University of Illinois, where he taught from 1909–45, and he helped turn the university into a major institution. Active in his profession, he was Sather Lecturer (1934), president of the American Philological Association (1937–38), published widely on many aspects of antiquity both in German and in English, and trained many scholars in the field. His work on the topography of Locris remains a classic of its kind. Oldfather was born in Urumiah, Persia (now Rezaieh, Iran) to American Presbyterian missionaries.