Professor Paul Richard Olson of Baltimore City, Maryland, passed away on January 18 ^th, 2021, of natural causes. He became professor emeritus of the Johns Hopkins University following a distinguished academic career as a professor of modern Spanish literature at the Department of German and Romance Languages. He is survived by Phyllis, his wife of 68 years, and by his four children, seven grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.

He was born in 1925 to a family of Swedish immigrants, the youngest of six children. His father, Oskar, a native of Värmland province in Sweden, worked in the copper mining regions of Michigan before moving to Rockford, Illinois, where he worked as a custodian at a Lutheran Church. His mother, Jenny, emigrated from Norbötten in northern Sweden as a teenager. As a boy, Paul Olson enjoyed boating and camping in the Great Lakes region. At East High School in Rockford, Illinois, he skipped one grade, and was active in the RAB Authors' Club, which students joined on an English teacher's recommendation.

Ruled ineligible for military service in World War II, he returned to his academic studies, while working odd jobs to raise funds to attend University of Illinois. He peeled potatoes in a fraternity kitchen. His college room consisted of a curtain across a landing of an old Victorian grand staircase. Every other boarder coming or going brushed past his "wall." Perhaps owing to these experiences, his colleagues would later describe him as quiet and observant. In seven semesters, he graduated as Valedictorian, with a Bachelors' degree in Foreign Languages, from the University of Illinois. He stayed on to complete a Masters' Degree in Italian, and his studies won him a scholarship from the Italian Government to study at University of Pisa. Upon his return to the United States, he married Phyllis, his friend and fellow Illinoisan, a classical musician from Park Ridge.

He worked a number of years for a book publisher. At Phyllis' urging, he returned to school and in 1958 earned a PhD. in Romance Languages and Literature from Harvard University. After teaching at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, he joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins in 1961 as assistant professor. He and Phyllis were by then the parents of four children.

It was at Hopkins that he flourished, studying, teaching, and serving for thirty years. He became general editor for MLN (Modern Language Notes) where he produced each year's Spanish issue. He joined, and held offices in, national academic societies such as Modern Language Association and chaired numerous boards and committees. His published papers and growing reputation earned him invitations to present guest lectures in other universities, as far afield as Oregon, Liverpool, Barcelona, and Berlin. He became Chair of the Department of German and Romance Languages, and led this complex department for five years. A visiting French philosopher dubbed him "Le President Olson" for his serene conduct of affairs, amid the many changes in the nineteen sixties.

In 1967, Johns Hopkins Press published his first book, which made him an authority in modern Spanish literature: Circle of Paradox: Time and Essence in the Poetry of Juan Ramón Jiménez. His academic peers praised his meticulous approach. In addition, he published twenty-five journal articles and conference papers, as well as twenty scholarly book reviews. He produced critical editions of the novels of Miguel de Unamuno. In the all-important teaching role, student reviews of his classes praised his lectures and his interest in students. His colleagues, whom he often entertained at home, described him as a "genial polymath," a reference to his startling erudition and breadth of knowledge. Dr. P.M. Forni, an Italian Studies professor in the same department, praised him as "a scholar-gentleman of the old school." In 1991, he retired as Professor Emeritus, and continued to research, and write, and in 2003 he completed and published The Great Chiasmus: Word and Flesh in the Novels of Unamuno.

During his working life, and in retirement, he and Phyllis enjoyed travels to Europe, where he was able to converse in the native languages and visit old friends and colleagues. In addition, they kept in touch with their relations in Illinois, and the family often traveled on extended road trips for camping and large family reunions. He paddled a canoe, attended concerts, or dined in fine restaurants with equal enjoyment. His sense of humor was dry and fun, and he enjoyed the company of all he met.

Throughout his life and career, he supported Phyllis' career as a musician and teacher, even learning to play the viola da gamba, a renaissance ancestor of the modern cello. He raised his family in the Episcopal Church, yet greatly admired Spanish and Italian culture, and knew a great deal about Roman Catholicism. Despite his busy academic schedule, he was generous with his time, and with encouragement. His children remember his many stories and jokes, and came to value his calm advice. "Be of good cheer" and "Things have a way of working out" were two of his signature phrases. He was home for dinner almost every night, where he would say grace in Latin. He celebrated his children's accomplishments with joy and pride.

He became an affectionate grandfather, and was overjoyed in the summer of 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, when he got to meet his great-grandchild through a glass window pane. Friends of his children who met him just once described him as a man with bright eyes, grateful to be alive. He always encouraged his children to "broaden their horizons" both as an intellectual enterprise, and as a means of attaining inner peace.

A memorial service will be held Friday, February 26, 2021, at 2pm at St. Stephen's Church in Timonium, Maryland. In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations to Saint Stephen's Church, Timonium.  Checks (made out to Saint Stephen's Church) may be mailed to The Treasurer of St Stephen's Anglican Church, P.O. Box 6161, Timonium, MD 21094.

Alternatively, please consider a donation to The Johns Hopkins University Department of German and Romance Languages, where he taught for over 30 years. Please go to: https://secure.jhu.edu/form/krieger . Select Department, Center, or Institute , and type " Department of German and Romance Languages in Honor of Dr. Paul R. Olson" in the describe field.