Samuel Hazzard Cross

Samuel Hazzard Cross (1891−14 October 1946) was an expert in German and Slavic culture, particularly medieval Russian literature.^{[1]: p. 286 fn 26}

Cross graduated from Harvard with two degrees: a BA in 1912 and a PhD in 1916.^[2] His studies also took him to the universities of Gratz, Freiburg, Berlin, and Leningrad.^[2]

Following his studies, from 1917–20 Cross served in the American Army, on the American Commission to Negotiate Peace, and at the American Embassy in Belgium. From 1925–26 he both held a lectureship in European trade and economics at Georgetown University and led the U. S. Department of Commerce in Europe.^[2]

In 1927, Cross was appointed to Harvard University,^[2] first teaching German.^{[1]: p. 286 fn 26} In 1930 he became an associate of Lowell House and also chairman of the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures.^[2]

Cross was, however, committed to developing Slavic studies both at Harvard and in the USA more generally, eventually becoming professor of Slavic languages and literature at Harvard.^{[1]: p. 286 fn 26} Among his students was Anne McCaffrey, who went on to become a major science-fiction author.^[3] Cross was managing editor of the American series of The Slavonic and East European Review;^[1]: 289 his works included Slavic Civilization through the Ages (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1948), published posthumously and characterised by one reviewer as "certainly the best general introduction to the Slavic studies so far available in English".^[4]

Cross married in 1918 and had three daughters.^[2] He died suddenly, of a heart attack on 14 October 1946.^[2]

After his death, Harvard established the Samuel Hazzard Cross Chair of Slavic Languages and Literatures, first filled, in January, 1950 by Roman Jakobson.^[5]: 98