Obituary from The Detroit News, September 13, 2013
Joseph J. Waldmeir Jr., of Dubuque, Iowa, a native Detroiter who taught several generations of English students during a career that spanned more than four decades at Michigan State University — has died after being hospitalized for kidney failure.
Mr. Waldmeir, who founded a society honoring writer Ernest Hemingway, died Thursday, Sept. 12, 2013, at Mercy Hospital in Dubuque, Iowa. He was 89.
“Joe was not only a teacher, he was an internationally recognized author, critic and literary scholar,” said his brother Pete Waldmeir, a retired Detroit News columnist. “I always bragged about him being kicked out of high school in the 11th grade, then later going into the Army during World War II, coming back and getting a BA at Wayne State, a master’s degree at the University of Michigan and a PhD at Michigan State.
“He was a late bloomer, I guess. But he inspired me — and many, many others like me — to become a writer.”
Mr. Waldmeir was a Fulbright scholar who taught in Ireland, Finland and Denmark. He lectured on the works of a wide variety of contemporary American authors from Hemingway to Truman Capote and James Joyce, and authored several critical works.
He also founded and was a past president of the Michigan Hemingway Society, which has been active since 1983 and hosts an annual conference in Petoskey to focus on Michigan’s influence in the author’s works. The conference attracts hundreds of Hemingway afficionados from across the country every year.
Mr. Waldmeir co-authored “Hemingway Up In Michigan Perspectives,” which includes some scholarship presented during the Michigan Hemingway Society’s 1991 gathering.
“A good reason we have the knowledge that we do about Hemingway in Michigan is because of Joe’s personality and passion for the topic,” said Mike Federspiel, president of the Michigan Hemingway Society.
A sergeant in World War II, Mr. Waldmeir served in Europe with the headquarters of the U.S. Third Army, commanded by Gen. George S. Patton, in Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge.
He is survived by his son, John C. (Mary) Waldmeir, brother Pete (Marilyn) Waldmeir, sister Patricia (Jerry) Gohr; two grandchildren, Helen and Louis, and several nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his wife, Margaret, in 2012.
Funeral arrangements are incomplete, but the family will hold a memorial service in Lansing later this month.