Phoenixville native Paul Lukacs, a longtime professor of 19th-century American literature at Loyola University in Maryland and a renowned oenophile, has died at 65. He passed away from liver transplant complications, writes Frederick Rasmussen for The Baltimore Sun.
“He loved wine and was a world traveler,” said Carol Abromaitis, a former chair of Loyola’s English Department. “His father was a noted European historian, and he grew up in a home with a sense of history and literature. He was a charming man whose favorite saying was, ‘Don’t be grumpy.’”
Lukacs graduated from The Episcopal Academy before earning a bachelor’s degree from Kenyon College in Ohio. He later got his master’s and Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins.
During his three decades at Loyola, he was chair of the English Department for 18 years and directed the Honors Program.
He wrote a wine column for Washingtonian magazine and helped found Wine Review Online. Lukacs published three books on wine, including American Vintage: The Rise of American Wine.
The James Beard Foundation and the International Association of Culinary Professionals all recognized his expertise with vintages.
Read more about Paul Lukacs in The Baltimore Sun.
