In Memoriam

Lars Eleon Troide

Editorial Scholar

June 15, 1942 — September 10, 2013

On December 11, 2013, Yale was notified by Mercedes L. San Agustin that her husband, Lars Eleon Troide, died in Hospice Cornwall (Cornwall, Ontario) on September 10, 2013 of appendix-colon cancer.  Lars was retired from McGill University when he died.

Lars was born in Stamford, CT, and prepared for Yale at Stamford High School.  He resided in Morse College.  He was an English Honors major and a Ranking Scholar.  He held the Honorary Yale National Scholarship, the Honorary National Merit Scholarship, and the Pitney-Bowes Scholarship.  After graduation, Lars earned an MA in Contemporary British Literature at Columbia and his Ph.D. in English at Yale.

Lars was a Professor of English Literature for thirty years at McGill University in Montreal, Canada and Director and Emeritus Director of the Burney Centre for 18th Century Studies. He was an expert in Frances Burney, Horace Walpole, and 18th Century English Literature.

Lars was a 1960 National Merit Scholar for outstanding accomplishment and promise at the high-school level (1,000 awards out of 550,000 candidates nationwide). He was a Research Fellow (1980 and 1998) at the National Endowment for the Humanities in Washington, D.C. He was on the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Extended Research Grants (1978 – 2004). He was a Killiam Research Fellow Finalist in 1994.

Lars' publications include:

• Co-Editor, Yale Edition of Horace Walpole’s Correspondence, Vols. 37-39 (Yale University Press, 1974)
• Editor, Horace Walpole’s Miscellany (Yale University Press, 1978)
• Editor, The Early Journals and Letters of Fanny Burney, 5 volumes (Clarendon Press, Oxford University, 1988)
• Co-Editor, Frances Burney:  Journals and Letters (Penguin, 2001)
• Assorted Catholic writings since his conversion to the Roman Catholic faith in 2008.

Professor Peter H. Ohlin, Professor Emeritus at McGill University and Executive Director of Oxford Press has this to say about Lars:

Lars was an exceptional scholar with a body of works that made a substantial contribution to 18th century studies in English literature. He was, for many years, a trusted and much respected member of the English Department at McGill University, where he was much valued as a colleague and a friend. He was also a man of great integrity, not afraid of taking a stand against ignorance and misconceived opinions.

That his voice is now silenced is sad for us. He will be sorely missed.

Lars had a great ear for music and took piano lessons for ten years (ages 8 - 18). He was a skillful (amateur) piano player who played for pleasure, and his taste veered toward the classical (including Schumann, Schubert, Chopin, Mozart, Bach, and Grieg).

He said that his taste for classical music was his "deep, dark secret" at Yale and he had a horror of its being found out by his classmates, because he would never hear the end of it.  This comment about being "found out by his classmates" is typical of Lars' lively sense of humor, which many friends remember with a smile.

Lars was married for 37 years to Teresa Marganska (deceased) by whom he had two children, Nathan (38 years old) who lives in Ottawa and Maia (35 years old) who lives in Alexandria.

He married Mercedes L. San Agustin on August 14, 2010, and although the marriage lasted only three years before cancer overtook him, these years were very happy and fulfilling for both.

Mercedes has one son, Juan M. San Agustin (31 years old and married to Evelyn de Leon), by her first marriage to Agustin San Agustin (deceased).