Cyrus Colter, 92, a professor emeritus of African-American studies at Northwestern, gifted fiction writer and a Chicago lawyer, died Monday in Evanston.
Colter had long been suffering from an illness and died at the Wagner Health Center, 820 Foster St., said Charles Loebbaka, NU spokesman.
“Cyrus Colter was a remarkable human being and a marvelous fiction writer … who began to work rather late in life.” said William Reginald Gibbons Jr., an NU English professor.
Colter taught African-American studies and English at NU during the 1970s, and in 1976 was named the first Chester D. Tripp Professor in the Humanities. Before Colter began teaching, he was a Chicago lawyer and public servant.
For 23 years, Colter served as a member of the Illinois Commerce Commission, a position appointed by the governor.
Colter did not begin writing fiction until he was 50, Gibbons said. Colter’s first of six novels, “The River of Eros,” was published in 1972. His collection of short stories, “The Beach Umbrella,” won the prestigious University of Iowa School of Letters first prize for short fiction in 1970.
“He turned to writing as a way to complete himself as a human being,” Gibbons said.
Raymond Mack, NU provost from 1971 to 1986, said Colter’s greatest accomplishment was that he continued to be productive and innovative later in life.
Gibbons said Colter wrote about what it was like to be a working black American who was trying to get ahead but constrained by racial prejudice. He said Colter’s two most important novels were “The Hippodrome” (1973) and “A Chocolate Soldier” (1988). Gibbons said “A Chocolate Soldier” was a “brilliant mediation on race, revolutionary zeal and acquiescence.”
Colter was a man of great presence with a strong personality, one who wanted to be noticed when he entered a room, Gibbons said. But Colter also was very humble about his literary accomplishments, Gibbons said.
“He was doubtful of what he accomplished, but I think he accomplished an enormous amount,” Gibbons said.
Colter also was active in the Chicago cultural scene. He served on the board of trustees of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Historical Society and also was involved with the city’s public schools and library.
Leigh Bienen, a lecturer at the NU School of Law, knew Colter since the 1960s and said she remembers him as a “very nice, sweet, smart man.”
“His literary contribution is long lasting,” said Bienen, also a writer.
Colter grew up in Noblesville, Ind. He received his undergraduate degree from Ohio State University and a law degree from Chicago-Kent College of Law. He served in the Army during World War II and was stationed in Europe.
Colter was preceded in death by his wife, Imogene Mackay Colter, in 1984.
