Jeffrey H. Richards was a professor and eminent scholar of English at Old Dominion University. During his nineteen years at Old Dominion, Richards taught early and 19th century American literature and American drama and served two terms as department chair. He received the university's Doctoral Mentoring Award in 2011. Richards was born on December 4, 1948 in Libertyville, Illinois to Fenton Omar and Betty Quantz Richards. He graduated with bachelor's degree in English from Yale University in 1971 and received a doctorate in American literature and drama from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1982. Prior to joining the Old Dominion University faculty in 1992, Richards taught at Duke University, North Carolina State University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Lakeland College, and Beijing Normal University. Besides teaching, Richards wrote numerous essays and articles, as well as authored publications on American literature and drama. His areas of research were on Calvinism in the Colonial South, early American literature, and American drama. Richards died on May 30, 2011 at the age of 62 after a long battle with brain cancer. The conference room for the university's English Department located on the fifth floor of the Batten Arts and Letters Building has been re-dedicated as the Jeffrey H. Richards Conference Room. References: “Jeffrey Richards, Department Chair and Eminent Professor, Literature.” http://al.odu.edu/english/faculty/jrichards.shtml Bross, Kristina; Sweet Timothy. “In Memoriam: Jeffrey H. Richards.” Early American Literature, Vol. 47. No. 1, 2012, pp. 257-260.  [url=https://muse.jhu.edu/journals/early_american_literature/v047/47.1.bross.pdf]https://muse.jhu.edu/journals/early_american_literature/v047/47.1.bross.pdf[/url] “In Memoriam, Jeffrey H. Richards.” The Scrivener: The Alumni Newsletter of the ODU English Department. http://oduscrivener.wordpress.com/issues/2010-2011-issue/in-memoriam-jeffrey-h-richards/ “Memorial Service is June 5 for Professor Jeffrey Richards.”  News @ Old Dominion. May 26, 2011.

Note written by Kathleen Smith