Todd Campbell Hanlin was born in Niles, Michigan, on Nov. 9, 1941, to Philip Romaine Hanlin and Doris Evelyn Hanlin (née Campbell). After a bucolic childhood in the nearby town of Buchanan, he began a long and storied career as a professor of German Language and Literature, attending Wabash College, the University of Kansas, The College of Wooster, Bryn Mawr College, and the Universität of Freiburg in Germany. He taught, researched, and translated at the University of Pennsylvania, Haverford College, and finally – his intellectual home for the last 40 years – the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. Beloved by his students for his humor and warmth, Todd taught generations of young people in the German program, inspiring/goading them to the ultimate goal of reading a full novel per week. His passion for translating German-language literature extended through his retirement, and into his last days. His most recent work, a volume of Austrian science fiction, is currently at press.
He loved going for long country drives and listening to opera. He was a strategic master of jigsaw puzzles, the higher the piece-count the better. An avid photographer, he delighted in carrying and inventorying his equipment, as well as taking occasional pictures of friends, family, and the subject to which he returned again and again – the varying forms of the American lighthouse. In his later years he turned to genealogy, collecting the odds and ends of Hanlin family history and organizing them for posterity. No matter what his current project was, his humor brightened our days, and his curiosity and sense of fun will be one of his biggest legacies amongst those who knew and loved him.
Todd leaves behind his sister, Judith Ott; his former wife, Marjorie Ralston Hanlin Taggart, and their children, Rob-Phillip Hanlin of Austin, TX, and Carrie E. Wilkerson of Nashville, TN, as well as six grandchildren. He is also survived by his former wife, Marla M. Wright.
In lieu of flower, donations may be made to the Willard Walker Hospice Home in Fayetteville Arkansas: https://www.wregional.com/hospice/willard-walker-hospice-home or to one of Todd's most beloved charities, the Lincoln Public Library, in Lincoln, Arkansas: https://www.lincolnarlibrary.com/