Gotoff

Harry Gotoff, 1936 to 2018, was a classicist and an internationally respected scholar on the writings of Cicero. He taught at Harvard, The University of Massachusetts, The University of Illinois, and then, for most of his career, at The University of Cincinnati. While he was at Harvard, Harry was senior tutor at Kirkland House, where Bill Alfred was also a tutor. They became friends.

I am sad to say that this brief memoir must come at second-hand, but I will do my best to replicate the story as Harry told it to me. Around 1965 Harry built a modest house near Newport Vermont. That is way up north in Vermont, a sparely settled area only a few miles from the Canadian border, and a few hundred miles and about 5 hours north and west of Cambridge. Harry loved the house and loved bringing people up to spend time there. He pressed Alfred, who held rural life in rather low esteem, repeatedly to visit. After six or seven of these invitations, Bill finally gave in and agreed to make the trip. "That's wonderful," said Harry, "If you want, we can leave this Friday."

"Sure," said Bill. "As long as we can be back before dark."