Carl W. Conrad, an associate professor emeritus of classics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, died peacefully at his home in Yancey County, North Carolina, on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025. He was 90.
Born in Washington, D.C., Conrad grew up in New Orleans and attended Tulane University, earning a bachelor’s degree in history in 1955 and a master’s in classics the following year.
Conrad then spent a year at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich on a Fulbright scholarship. He earned his doctorate in classical philology from Harvard University in 1964.
Conrad joined the WashU faculty in 1961, teaching Greek and Latin languages and literature as well as biblical studies. Other scholarly interests included Greek tragedy, Latin poetry, and the history of ideas in the Greco-Roman-Hellenistic tradition. He took a particular interest in Propertius’ elegies, Plato’s “Republic” and, later, the emergence of New Testament documents in the Hellenistic world.
Conrad served on several academic and administrative committees, including the Graduate Council and the General Studies Committee. He served a term as chair of classics in 1978.
In 1987, Conrad and three other classics faculty began conducting research with the Ibycus, a specialized computer containing three-fourths of known Greek literature from roughly 750 BCE to 600 AD. Housed in the department’s Classics Study Center, it was one of just 12 Ibycus computers then in operation. Beginning in 1998, Conrad became an active contributor to the “B-Greek” internet forum, engaging with scholars and enthusiasts on topics related to the Greek language and biblical texts.
In 2001, Conrad and his wife of 65 years, Velma Grindstaff Conrad, retired to the house where Velma was born and raised, on the banks of the South Toe River in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains. In 2006, the classics department established the Carl Conrad Prize for Excellence in Classical Studies, an annual undergraduate award.
Conrad is survived by Velma Conrad and their two children, Fred Conrad, of St. Louis, and Kathryn Conrad (Mark Corneliussen), of Tucson, Ariz., as well as by grandchildren Grace and Zac Corneliussen; step-granddaughter Aleah Canchola and her two children.
In accordance with Conrad’s wishes, no public memorial service will be held. Memorial donations can be made to MY Neighbors (PO Box 686, Burnsville, NC 28714), an all-volunteer elderly care network serving Yancey County. Read the family obituary and offer condolences on the Yancy Funeral Services website.