Necrology

William Roy Risley '65

Jul. 18, 1942-Aug. 3, 2024

William Roy Risley ’65 died in Memphis, Tenn., on Aug. 3, 2024. Born in New York City on July 18, 1942, he moved with his family to Mount Kisco, N.Y., in 1947. Will initially matriculated at Dartmouth College after graduating from Horace Greeley High School in Chappaqua. 

By the end of freshman year, he concluded that Dartmouth was not a good fit and transferred to Hamilton. On the Hill, he was a member of Theta Delta Chi fraternity and majored in Spanish literature, which was his favorite of the several languages he had studied in high school. He was also a member of the Spanish Club and its president in his junior year. He participated in the Utica Tutorial Project as a junior and was a staff member of The Spectator as a senior. He also played intramural hockey, as he later described it in the Hamilton Alumni Review, “sans skating ability.” He amassed a distinguished academic record, was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, and graduated with honors in Spanish.

Will threw himself into graduate study in Spanish literature while first spending a year in Madrid under the auspices of Middlebury College’s Graduate School of Spanish. In addition to his academic transcript in Spanish, he completed a required seven-week summer session to “prove himself worthy of going to Spain.” He succeeded.

In 1966, with his master’s degree in hand, Will began doctoral studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In addition to coursework, comprehensive examinations, and initial work on his dissertation, he was also a graduate teaching assistant and an instructor in the program. In 1969, he married Diane Klemm, who had graduated from Wisconsin the previous year. They had two daughters.

In 1971, he was hired as an assistant professor in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at Western Illinois University. In 1974, he successfully defended his dissertation, “Setting in Six Novels of [Benito Perez] Galdos (1881-1885),” Galdos being regarded as Spain’s second greatest novelist after Miguel de Cervantes. In 1977, Will was promoted to associate professor with tenure, and in 1982 to full professor. Later, he accepted administrative responsibilities as director of interdisciplinary studies and as an administrative assistant to the university’s provost.

In 1986, he returned to the University of Wisconsin to hold a joint appointment in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese as well as in the Department of Liberal Studies, a unit of the university’s Division of Outreach. He retained both positions until his retirement in 2011. 

Throughout his career, Will was an active scholar of Spanish literature of the 19th and 20th centuries, serving on the editorial boards of the journal Anales de la literatura española contemporánea and the Annual Bibliography of Post-Civil War Spanish Fiction, among other collaborative projects. In addition to his focus on Spanish literature, including further study of the works of Galdos, he published research in the areas of comparative literature and literary theory.

As a scholar-teacher, Will taught not only undergraduate and graduate students but also adults who took classes from him as part of their continuing education. Additionally, he developed new courses with particular attention to Latin American literature. 

A former colleague said that “Will was a passionate reader of Spanish literature and shared this passion throughout Van Hise’s classrooms as well as its corridors,” an allusion to the building that housed his department. Eulogizing him, his last doctoral student, whose work Will deemed so important that he postponed retirement for a year in order to guide her research, described Will as “the most well-read person I have ever met, and the ease with which he could chat about virtually any subject never ceased to amaze me.”

Will was also a lifelong sports fan whose teams included the New York Yankees and, later, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Green Bay Packers, and the Milwaukee Bucks. His greatest devotion, though, was reserved for the University of Wisconsin Badgers. He had season tickets to the football, hockey, and basketball games, and had strong opinions about each team and its coaches, which he freely shared with colleagues and students alike.

Although they continued to reside in Madison following retirement, Will and Diane decided in 2014 to move to Memphis, Tenn., to be close to their two grandchildren. Will continued reading both new and classic fiction, enjoying spending time in local bookstores, and attending talks by visiting authors. 

In his 25th reunion yearbook, he made clear that his three years at Hamilton played a vital role in his intellectual development. In response to the question, “What has Hamilton meant to you?”, he wrote: “Regeneration. I made the mistake of attending my second-choice college, Dartmouth, instead of my first, Hamilton. When it didn’t work out, Sid Bennett and Win Tolles took me in. To those exceptional men, and to Hamilton’s faculty, I am forever indebted. Making Phi Beta Kappa was my way of trying to say, ‘Thanks’.” He also named 10 faculty members from the history, foreign languages, and geology departments, as well as Sid Wertimer, for their teaching. Professor John Kronik of the foreign languages department was particularly influential.

Will supported the Hamilton Fund, contributed money toward the restoration of the Chapel’s steeple, gave to the Class of ’65 Career Center Fund, and donated to upgrading track and athletic fields.

Preceded in death by his father, Edward P. Risley ’35, P’65, William R. Risley is survived by his wife, two daughters, and two grandchildren.

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