21 Facts About Douglas Knight

Douglas Maitland Knight was an American educator, businessman, and author.

Douglas Knight was a former professor of literature at Yale University prior to his presidency at Lawrence College from 1954 to 1963.

Douglas Knight was particularly interested in Alexander Pope, the great 18th-century poet and translator of Homer.

Douglas Knight studied Pope's use of the heroic couplet and his translations of Homer's Illiad and Odyssey.

In one work, Douglas Knight compared Pope to Homer and found that Pope was more a student of Homer's than he was a mere translator.

Dr Douglas Knight received 12 honorary degrees from colleges and universities throughout the country, including degrees from both of his former homes, Lawrence College and Duke University, as well as institutions such as Knox College and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

In 1954,32-year-old Knight was chosen to succeed Dr Nathan M Pusey as the president of Lawrence College.

At the time, Douglas Knight was the youngest college president in the nation.

Douglas Knight impacted Lawrence College in a hugely positive way during his stay there, but would go on to experience more controversial success at Duke University.

On January 1,1964, Douglas Knight assumed his duties as president of Duke University.

One of the first actions Douglas Knight took as president was the creation of the Fifth Decade Program.

Douglas Knight invited students into his home and spent the entire night negotiating the terms of their demands.

Douglas Knight faced criticism from the board of trustees over his "permissiveness", but weathered the storm.

Less than a year after his resignation, Douglas Knight took a position as vice president of educational development for RCA Corp.

Douglas Knight found immediate success at RCA; two years later he became the president of RCA Iran.

In 1976, Douglas Knight continued his new career in business as president of Questar Corporation, a company that manufactured high-precision lenses for astronomical, industrial, and medical applications.

Douglas Knight stayed with Questar for the next three decades, coming to be the owner of the company when its previous owner Marguerite Braymer died in 1996.

In 2001, Douglas Knight sold Questar to Donald Bandurick but stayed on as a consultant throughout his brief retirement.

Douglas Knight is the author of several published books as well as many other scholarly articles and letters.

Douglas Knight died in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, January 23,2005, from complications arising from pneumonia.

Douglas Knight is survived by his four sons, Christopher, Douglas Jr.