Thomas Parkinson

Thomas F. Parkinson (1920–1992) Professor of English at the University of California, Berkeley, was a poet in his own right; an expert on the poetry of W. B. Yeats; and one of the first academic authorities to write about the Beat poets and novelists of San Francisco in the 1950s and 1960s. A deeply thoughtful man of great integrity, he was a quiet political activist for much of his life, and survived a murder attempt in 1961 by a deranged former student who sought to "get someone who was associated with Communism." Though Parkinson survived being shot in the face (and bore the scars of the assault for the rest of his life), the teaching assistant who was with him at the time was killed. Thomas Parkinson died of an apparent heart attack in 1992, at age 72, after a long illness.

Parkinson's early life was affected by the Great Depression and the Second World War. Growing up in San Francisco as the son of a master-plumber union leader who was blacklisted during the General Strike of the late 1930s, Parkinson developed a respect for labor and a sensitivity to social injustice. He attended Lowell High School and some junior college, where he was inspired by gifted teachers. When WWII began, Parkinson enlisted in the Army, but was eventually discharged because he was too tall. In the years that followed, Parkinson worked a motley series of jobs, as an insurance agent, a ship's outfitter, and a lumberjack. And he continued to read widely and deeply. He eventually returned to UC Berkeley, where he completed his Bachelor's degree in three years.

While he was developing an academic career at Berkeley in the 1950s, Parkinson became immersed in the continuing political battles of his times. A tireless supporter of students both inside and outside the classroom, Parkinson made a number of public statements about paltry funding for student scholarships, including those for women students. An article he published in the campus newspaper, the Daily Californian, sparked the murder attempt by a former student who claimed to have been commanded by God. Parkinson was severely injured in the attack—several of his vertebrae were fused and his face permanently damaged, and the teaching assistant who was with him at the time was killed. Parkinson continued to promote liberal causes, however, and served as campus Ombudsman, chaired the Berkeley chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), and testified at the obscenity trial on behalf of Allen Ginsberg's Howl. He was instrumental in helping promote humanities study, teacher training, and extension courses for non-matriculated students during a period when the university was pressured to specialize its programs and become increasingly elite.

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