German Prof. Geza von Molnar, 69, a respected scholar and beloved teacher, died July 27 at Evanston Hospital of complications from a heart attack.

Von Molnar, who joined Northwestern’s faculty in 1963, was preparing to begin his final year teaching, said his wife, Barbara von Molnar. She said he was the happiest he had ever been this summer — excited over the prospect of teaching for another year and glowing after publishing what he thought was the definitive article on German philosophers Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Immanuel Kant.

Weinberg junior Rachel Brockhoff said von Molnar was an ideal professor because he spoke eloquently during lectures and always had time for his students.

“He’s like anyone’s grandpa,” she said. “He’s always there for you … and he always had wonderful stories.”

Von Molnar specialized in German philosophers, medieval thought, Western literature of the Romantic Era and Nazi Germany, a subject of which he had personal knowledge.

Born in Leipzig, Germany, in 1932 to a German-Jewish mother and a Hungarian-Catholic father, Von Molnar grew up in Nazi Germany not knowing he was Jewish. Because of the anti-Semitism that accompanied Hitler’s rise to power, von Molnar’s parents decided not to tell him about his Jewish ancestry.

Von Molnar often said he admired Nazi soldiers as a young boy and especially enjoyed missing school because of air raids.

In 1943, von Molnar’s father sent him to live with a tutor in a small Hungarian town so he would be safe. But when Russian troops invaded the town, the young von Molnar fled on his own. He reached the Bavarian Alps, where a Nazi general gave him marching orders that allowed him to travel in Germany without being hassled by Nazis.

“The commander knew about (von Molnar’s) cultural background,” his wife said. “He just happened to be a nice Nazi general.”

Von Molnar left Germany for the United States in 1947 and served in the U.S. Air Force from 1950 to 1954.

He later earned a bachelor’s degree in German and philosophy from Hunter College in New York. Von Molnar received a master’s degree and Ph.D. in German from Stanford University’s Humanities Honors Program in 1966.

While studying in New York, von Molnar met his wife, and the couple moved to California. His wife said that after living on the West Coast, they had a hard time adapting to Evanston.

“We were beach bums and (California) was gorgeous,” she said. “We walked on beach, saw sunsets, drank Gallo wine in 99-cent bottles. We were the original hippies before Joan Baez came along and Ken Kesey started experimenting with acid.”

But after a rough start, Barbara von Molnar said she and her husband grew to love Evanston. They enjoyed taking walks along Lake Michigan. He was also fond of the couple’s Mediterranean house in Wilmette.

“He liked champagne in the summer. We would sit, just the two of us in the back yard drinking champagne,” his wife said. “He loved his birds, taking care of them, feeding them. He was like Dr. Doolittle surrounded by bunnies in the back yard.”

In addition to his wife of 43 years, von Molnar is survived by two daughters, Karen and Anina; a brother, Stephen; and a granddaughter.

A public memorial service will be at 4 p.m. Oct. 1 in Alice Millar Chapel.