Dates

• Existence: 1913-1973

Biography

Curt A. Zimansky was born on August 13, 1913, in San Francisco, California, the son of Curt F. and Olga Glauch Zimansky. He earned a B.A. (1933) and M.A. (1934) from Stanford University. In 1936, Princeton University conferred another master's degree on him, and a Ph.D. the following year.

Zimansky came to teach at the University of Iowa in 1937, specializing in the study of restoration drama. He was the past president of the Iowa Archeological Society and was chairman of the editorial board of the University of Iowa Press. He belonged to both the Modern Language Association and the Johnson Society of America; he was also a member of the University Faculty Senate as well as many other committees. Zimansky began as the associate editor of the Philological Quarterly in 1953, and in 1964 became its editor, devoting vast amounts of time on its publication. As an editor of a rival journal put it, Editors of scholarly journals can be divided into two groups: Curt Zimansky and all the others.

Zimansky served in the army intelligence in World War II and the Korean War. During World War II he was a member of the top secret Ultra staff at Bletchley, England, that intercepted and deciphered the highest-level German command communications, analyzed and annotated them, and forwarded them for planning and action to senior English and American officers. He retired from the military in 1957 with the rank of major.

Curt A. Zimansky died of cancer on August 10, 1973, at age 59. He was survived by his wife Margaret Lacy Zimansky and their four sons.

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