Georg Hans Luck, Ph.D. passed away on his birthday Sunday, February 17, 2013 at the age of 87. Georg Luck was born in Bern, Switzerland, on 17 February 1926. He studied Classics and Archaeology at the Universities of Bern and Paris and at Harvard University. He received his MA from Harvard in 1951 and his PHD in 1953 from the University of Bern. Dr. Luck's first teaching positions as instructor of classics were in the United States: Yale (1952-53), Brown (1953-55), and Harvard (1955-58) where he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1958. After leaving Harvard, Dr. Luck worked at the University of Mainz as a Lecturer in Greek and Latin (1958-62). In 1962, he accepted a professorship at the University of Bonn. He left Bonn in 1970 to accept a position at the Johns Hopkins University where he taught up to his retirement in 1990. During that time he also taught courses on different subjects at the School of Continuing Education. For twelve years he served as Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Philology. Dr. Luck was the author of numerous books, commentaries and articles in the field of Classics and widely translated. Two of his best known are The Latin Love Elegy (London 1959; second edition 1969) and Arcana Mundi: Magic and the Occult in the Greek and Roman Worlds (Baltimore 1986; second edition 2006). He was also the author of several books about Swiss tourism in the 18th and 19th centuries. For a number of years Dr. Luck served in the Swiss Army, first as a volunteer during World War II, later in the regular armed forces, as a first lieutenant in the infantry. He was passionate about the classical guitar which he studied and played all his life. He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Harriet Richards Greenough, whom he met while he was teaching in Providence, RI; three children Annina Luck Wildermuth of Huntington, NY, Hans Andreas Luck of Bern, Switzerland, and Stephanie Luck Coic of Paris, France and two grandchildren Leo William Coic and Claire Ann Corentine Coic.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, February 23, 2013 at the Emmanuel Episcopal Church, 811 Cathedral Street, Baltimore, Maryland  21201 beginning at 11:00 a.m.  In lieu of flowers people are encouraged to make a donation to the Child Health Foundation www.childhealthfoundation.org , 10630 Little Patuxent Parkway, Century Plaza, Suite 126, Columbia, MD 21044 USA.