Philip Owen Spann

Dr. Philip Owen Spann died January 26 in Gainesville, Florida, from complications after a stroke. He was born August 13, 1941, the son of Northwestern University German teacher Meno Spann and high school English teacher Marjorie Williams Spann. He received a bachelor's degree in 1965 from Northwestern University and a master's and PhD from the University of Texas at Austin in 1973 and 1976. He received the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1977 and studied at the American Academy in Rome. Philip was a passionate professor of classics and languages. He taught Latin, Greek and Roman Civilization at the University of Florida, the University of Utah, the University of Arkansas and Santa Fe College. He was the author of "Quintus Sertorius and the Legacy of Sulla" and many academic articles and book reviews. He was teacher of the year, selected by the Student Council of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at UF, 1989-1990. He was a Senior Fulbright Research Fellow in Spain both in 1981 and 1992. Philip loved languages and spoke German, Spanish and French. He is survived by daughter Jessica Spann Gaither and two cherished granddaughters, Jade and Jordan, of Dripping Springs, Texas. He married and divorced twice - to Johnanna DeSalvo-Spann and Jeanne Thatcher Escue. Step-children include Stephanie Weinsier, Tim Thatcher and Lisa Kresl. His family will celebrate his life at a later date at a ceremony befitting an intellectual adventurer who loved literature, travel, tennis, sailing and running with the bulls in Pamplona.


Published in Gainesville Sun from January 29 to January 30, 2012