John Guilds, Former Dean of Arts and Sciences, Dies

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John C. Guilds Jr.

John Caldwell Guilds Jr., a former dean of the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences and a Distinguished Professor of humanities at the University of Arkansas, died March 5, 2014, at the Veterans Hospital in Fayetteville. He was 90.

Guilds was born Feb. 27, 1924, at Columbia, S.C., to John Caldwell and Lucille Folk Guilds. He served in World War II, receiving the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star medals.

Guilds earned his bachelor's degree at Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C., and then earned a master's and doctoral degrees from Duke University. He started his academic career at Clemson University, then went to East Central University in Ada, Okla., before becoming head of the English department at Texas Tech University. He received numerous grants and awards, including a grant from the American Philosophical Society for travel and research in Ireland and Fulbright-Hays lectureships at the University of Damascus in Syria and the University of Cairo in Egypt. He then taught at the University of South Carolina, serving as head of the English department, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and then vice provost of the university. Prior to coming to Arkansas, he served as dean of the College of Humanities and Fine Arts at the University of Houston.

He received numerous grants and awards, including a grant from the American Philosophical Society for travel and research in Ireland and Fulbright-Hays lectureships at the University of Damascus in Syria and the University of Cairo in Egypt.

Guilds was a well-known authority on the work of William Gilmore Simms, South Carolina's most important literary figure, and edited nine or more books, including The Centennial Edition of the Writings of William Gilmore Simms. He is the author of numerous articles in literary and scholastic journals and worked extensively on his biography of Simms.

He is survived by three children: Carolee Heriot Guilds, recently of Columbia, S.C.; Reba Lucille Guilds Goodman, of Houston, Texas; and John Caldwell Guilds III, of Marina del Rey, Calif., and their mother, his former wife, CaroLee Green Heriot Guilds, of Columbia, S.C.; and by four grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held in his honor in Columbia at a later date. Funeral arrangements were by Nelson-Berna Funeral Home.