Stanley Weintraub (April 17, 1929 – July 28, 2019) was an American historian and biographer and an expert on George Bernard Shaw.

Early life

Weintraub was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on April 17, 1929. He was the eldest child of Benjamin and Ray Segal Weintraub. He attended South Philadelphia High School, and then he attended West Chester State Teachers College (West Chester University of Pennsylvania) where he received his B.S. in education in 1949. He continued his education at Temple University where he received his master's degree in English "in absentia," as he was called to duty in the Korean War. He received a commission in the Army as a second lieutenant, and served with the Eighth Army in Korea, receiving a Bronze Star. After the war, he enrolled at Pennsylvania State University in September 1953; his doctoral dissertation "Bernard Shaw, Novelist" was accepted on May 6, 1956.

Personal life

He married Rodelle Horwitz in 1954; they had three children, and lived in Newark, Delaware. He died on July 28, 2019, at the age of 90.

Career

Except for visiting appointments, he remained at Penn State for all of his career, finally attaining the rank of Evan Pugh Professor of Arts and Humanities, with emeritus status on retirement in 2000. From 1970 to 1990 he was also Director of Penn State's Institute for the Arts and Humanistic Studies.

Publications

He was a prolific award-winning author:

Awards

Weintraub was a Guggenheim Fellow for the academic year 1968–1969. On 11 November 1982, the university inaugurated the "Rodelle and Stanley Weintraub Center for the Study of the Arts and Humanities," containing a collection of their books, papers and memorabilia. In 2011, he was awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters by West Chester University of Pennsylvania.