I feel a bit like an idiot when I admit, I had no idea who Ray Browne was–and I should have known, considering he is the fellow who established the academic study of pop culture. He died of natural causes on October 22.

Browne, as noted in obituaries in both the Washington Post and the New York Times, was a distinguished university professor emeritus at Bowling Green State University. As detailed by the New York Times,  he taught there from 1967 to 1992. “A folklorist and literary scholar who specialized in Twain and Melville, he founded the university’s department of popular culture, the first such academic department in the country, in 1973,” according to the New York Times.

I aim to track down some of his books and learn more about him. But I have to pay tribute to the man who indirectly fostered a love for pop culture in academia and laid the foundation (on a core level) for blogs like mine.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/28/AR2009102804766.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/education/28browne.html?_r=1&emc=rss&partner=rss