Professor Emeritus Stanley Poss passes away at 96

Story: Jefferson Beavers, communication specialist, Department of English | Photo credit: John Alden/JA Photography

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Dr. Stanley Poss, a Fresno State professor emeritus of English, passed away on Dec. 14, 2023, in Fresno. He was 96. 

A specialist in modernist literatures of the 19th and 20th centuries, Poss taught courses in literature and film at Fresno State from 1956 to 1995. He was a widely published scholar on literature, politics, and culture, including essays in The Nation. He was a Fulbright professor in Cairo, Egypt, an exchange professor at multiple U.S. universities, and a longtime friend to multiple generations of students and faculty.

According to Charles G. Hanzlicek, professor emeritus of English, Poss had a great sense of humor — “quiet, sideways glance at you, sly delivery” — and was always eager to talk about books, even long after his retirement from Fresno State.

“Stan was very much a fan of the Irish writers, especially James Joyce,” Hanzlicek said. “I taught ‘Ulysses’ a couple of times, so we had discussions about Jimmy. Stan and [his wife] Joan were very welcoming when I started teaching here.”

Poss enjoyed studying and often taught the works of Joyce, William Butler Yeats, W. H. Auden, and T. S. Eliot. This included a survey course on Irish poets and writers, as well as full courses on Joyce’s “Ulysses” and Eliot’s “The Waste Land,” two benchmark works of experimental modernist literature.

Chris Henson, professor emerita of English, said in all the years she knew Poss, he always had a new book to recommend, often multiple books. According to Henson, Poss stayed actively involved in campus activities, attending films, plays, and lectures, always with a keen, analytical eye and sharp wit.

“Stan was full of intellectual curiosity, always pursuing new paths to knowledge,” she said. 

Henson recalled that her late husband, Eugene Zumwalt, a Fresno State professor emeritus of English and former department chair, told a story about being startled when Poss asked to audit one of his Shakespeare classes for a full semester. 

“Stan followed through,” Henson said, “and Eugene said it was one of the best and most memorable classes he ever taught because of Stan’s questions and observations.”

Poss taught for a number of semesters in the College of Arts and Humanities’ London Semester study abroad program. He and Joan are also longtime supporters of the college’s Dean’s Council annual fund, as well as multiple English Department scholarships and projects.

Stanley Horn Poss was born in Pasadena, California, in 1927. His father was a highway engineer; his mother was a P.E. teacher. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Redlands, a master’s degree from Claremont Graduate University, and a Ph.D. in English literature from the University of Washington. His doctoral dissertation was on the epic novel “Ulysses” by the Irish author James Joyce.

According to his wife of 69 years, Joan Poss, she and her husband shared a life-long love of the arts. Stan began his education as a music major, first playing the trumpet. He loved classical music and opera, especially the works of German composer Ludwig van Beethoven. Around the time their sons were born in the late 1950s, he rented a French horn and played it for a bit, Joan said, “but he wasn’t too successful.” For a time, the couple enjoyed playing recorders together with friends.

“The arts were so much a part of our lives — films, plays, the opera, concerts,” Joan Poss said. “For as long as I can remember, we went out to films and music. We used to go to free chamber music concerts in L.A. when we were dating.”

After retiring from Fresno State, Stan was a founding member of Fresno Filmworks, an all-volunteer nonprofit that screened independent films at the Tower Theatre from 2002 to 2020. He served on the programming and venue committees, and he most enjoyed the annual showings of the Oscar-nominated short films. Stan was perhaps best known as the organization’s most generous bartender, Joan said, and some Filmworks regulars would ask for “the Poss pour” when ordering a glass of wine for the movie.

Stan and Joan were also fixtures at Fresno State’s CineCulture movie screenings on campus. For years, Joan tabled at CineCulture for the local chapter of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, and Stan would always be there in support. They delighted in the wide range of films and guest filmmakers the university brought to Fresno, and they especially enjoyed the conversations with students and like-minded community members.

“Good films really affect us, and Stan always knew that,” Joan Poss said.

Stan and Joan were both active for decades in the local peace community, first joining anti-war protests on campus during the Civil Rights era, then for years joining street-corner rallies against the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and demonstrations calling for a free Palestine. Their commitment to action in the movements for peace and social justice, Joan said, was important to them both.

Stan also served for a time on the board of directors of KFCF, the local Pacifica radio affiliate at 88.1 FM.

Stan’s son John Poss said an obituary such as this, even the most thorough, can only give a glimpse into a life well lived.

“There is so much left out under the arch of a rainbow each person’s life traces, its apex, and then the gradual coming home on the far side,” John Poss said. “In that space, we recognize the small unspoken events that, when added together, give an image much greater than the sum of the parts. May this much larger image be the way Stan is remembered.”

In remembering his father, John Poss recalled the poem “Ascension” by Stan’s good friend, Philip Levine:

Somewhere I am a god.
Somewhere I am a holy
object. Somewhere I am.

Poss is survived by his wife, Joan Poss; sons, David Poss and John Poss; and grandchildren, Sara Poss and Ela Poss. A memorial service will be held in the future, date to be determined. 

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial gifts be made to the Fresno State English Department. Checks can be made to the Fresno State Foundation, with “English Department Scholarship” in the memo, and mailed to 5245 N. Backer Ave., PB98, Fresno, CA 93740. For questions about donations, call 559.278.1569.