Megow, Gerhard F. (1913-1999). Papers, 1956-1999.

Gerhard Franz Balthasar Megow was born September 15, 1913, in Markirch, Alsace, France, and grew up in Kassel, Germany. He spent two semesters at the Stuttgart Technological Institute in Germany. After graduation, he worked as an insurance officer from 1933-1940 and later a second lieutenant in the German Army from 1940-1944. From 1944-1946, he was incarcerated as a prisoner of war in the U.S. later returning to Germany to serve in the American Occupation Forces in Kassel until 1950 when he emigrated with his wife, Brigitte, and daughter, Gerlinde, to the U.S. He received his U.S. citizenship in 1956.

After his family's emigration, he attended and received his B.A., M.A., Ph.D. degrees from Indiana University in 1951, 1952, and 1959. There he also served as graduate teaching assistant from 1950-1954 after receiving two fellowships.

Megow's professional career began with a position as an assistant professor of modern languages (German and French) at Murray State College in Murray, Kentucky, from 1954-1959. In 1959, he accepted a position of assistant professor at Hope College and remained there until his retirement in 1977 when he received the title of Professor Emeritus of German. During that time, he was promoted to associate and later full professor status in 1961 and 1967.

Megow passed away on October 28, 1999, at the Glacier Hills Nursing Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan, at age 86.