Dr. Edwin S. Briggs ’45, who taught English at Wheaton College for 47 years, died on September 28, 2011, in Waban, Massachusetts.

He was born on January 10, 1924, in Waltham, Mass., and prepared for college at Waltham High School. He served to lieutenant junior grade in the Navy on board the aircraft carrier USS Bon Homme Richard at the close of World War II, then returned to graduate cum laude from Bowdoin in 1947, a member of Zeta Psi fraternity. He remained a member of the class of 1945. He went on to earn a master’s degree in 1948 and a doctorate in 1956, both in English from Harvard University. He retired in 1997 as an admired and respected professor of English who specialized in the older poets, such as Chaucer, Shakespeare, Donne, and Milton. He served as a visiting lecturer of English at Bowdoin for the 1961-62 academic year. Over the course of six years, he wrote more than 70 book reviews for the Boston Globe. He sang in several church choirs in the Boston area. He is survived by his wife of 38 years, Audrey Benning McDowell; a daughter, Annie Branch; and one granddaughter.