Robert L. Chapman

Robert Lundquist Chapman (December 28, 1920–January 27, 2002) was an American English professor who edited several dictionaries and thesauri.

Chapman was born in Huntington, West Virginia to Curtis W. Chapman, a typewriter mechanic, and Cecelia Lundquist Chapman, a homemaker. As a young man, he worked in factories and drove a truck, then enrolled at the University of Michigan to study English literature. One of his teachers at Michigan was the poet W.H. Auden. Chapman's college career was interrupted by World War II, when he served in Europe with the United States Army. He returned to Michigan afterwards and received his bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees.Elaine Woo. " [http://articles.latimes.com/2002/feb/24/local/me-chapman24 R. Chapman, 81; Wordsmith, Roget’s Editor] . "Los Angeles Times". February 24, 2002. Retrieved on August 27, 2008.]

Over the years, Chapman taught English at Cornell University, Oswego State Teachers College, Wilkes College, and Drew University, with whom he became a professor emeritus in 1986. He specialized in medieval literature, and was jokingly said to resemble Geoffrey Chaucer in appearance. [Shirley Horner. " [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE7DA1631F934A15751C1A964958260 New Jersey Q & A: Dr. Robert L. Chapman; State's Major Role in the New Roget's] ". "New York Times". December 27, 1992. Retrieved on August 27, 2008.] Between his teaching jobs, Chapman held various full-time editing positions. From 1960 to 1964, he worked for Funk & Wagnalls, where he served as a supervising editor for "Funk & Wagnalls Standard College Dictionary". He also had a brief stint with Holt, Rinehart & Winston, for whom he helped edit the 1966 release of the "Holt Intermediate Dictionary of American English"."Robert L(undquist) Chapman". "Contemporary Authors Online". Gale. June 5, 2003. Retrieved on August 27, 2003.]

Chapman is arguably best remembered for editing the fourth and fifth editions of "Roget's Thesaurus", published by Harper Collins in 1977 and 1992. With the fifth edition, Chapman added thirty new categoriesMargalit Fox. " [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B07E5DC113DF936A35751C0A9649C8B63 Robert Chapman, 81, Roget's Thesaurus Editor] ". "New York Times". February 5, 2002. Retrieved on August 27, 2008.] and over 50,000 new words, such as "ecosystem" and "yuppie". Chapman also edited Harper Collins' "New Dictionary of American Slang" (1986), the "Thesaurus of American Slang" (1989), and "Roget A to Z" (1994). Barbara Ann Kipfer, who edited the sixth edition of "Roget's Thesaurus", noted that Chapman was one of the first lexicographers to regularly use computer databases to study words as used in the popular press.

Chapman lived in Madison, New Jersey, and died in nearby Morristown in 2002 after battling a long illness. He was survived by his wife and three sons. In an obituary, Paul Farhi of the "Washington Post" wrote, "On behalf of blocked writers everywhere, we salute Mr. Chapman. We also doff our caps, raise a toast, sing his praises, acclaim, commend and laud him." [Paul Farhi. "Homage to a Man of Many Words". "Washington Post". February 7, 2002. C01.]

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