SluSignGuy Posted August 19, 2021 Share Posted August 19, 2021 Hal Bush was the poster @DoctorB. Sadly, he passed away this week from an injury that occurred earlier this year. Our thoughts are with the Bush family. Quote Harold K. Bush, who taught English literature at St. Louis University and wrote books about Mark Twain and others, died Wednesday (Aug. 18, 2021) at his home in Soulard. He was 64. After a fall down basement steps in January, Bush had been hospitalized or in skilled nursing care for a traumatic brain injury. He was taken home a few days before he died. A tenured professor and former Fulbright scholar, Bush was hired by SLU in 1998, where his research largely focused on 19th-century American writers and culture. Best known for his study of Twain, Bush was the author of "Mark Twain and the Spiritual Crisis of His Age." In addition to other books, he was co-editor of "The Letters of Mark Twain and Joseph Hopkins Twichell" and editor of "Lincoln in His Own Time." But he may have been better known in the classroom, receiving in 2016 the Helen I. Mandeville Award, a high honor for excellence in undergraduate teaching in the humanities. "He was beloved by the students," Toby Benis, chair of SLU's English Department, said Thursday. "He really knew how to connect with them." Always known as "Hal," he and his wife had parties at the end of every semester, and friends, colleagues and students would "sit around and sing songs from the 1960s," Benis said. Last fall, Bush, who played guitar, performed protest songs at a university teach-in in support of Black Lives Matter, Benis said. Besides drawing students to a class on 1960s literature (and Bob Dylan music), Bush taught American literature as an expression of spirituality, she said. "He looked at it through a Christian lens." A friend, Gary Leibovich, said by email that Bush "had a rare but well-balanced combination of intelligence, hospitality and fan loyalty. Intelligence that I saw in his writings and through discussions he lead. Hospitality that I saw in the the many get-togethers he and his wife, Hiroko, hosted in their home. And fan loyalty that I saw in his love and knowledge of Billikens basketball and Cardinals baseball." Leibovich was a former pastor at New City Fellowship of St. Louis, where the Bushes were members. The senior pastor, the Rev. Barry Henning, said of Bush: "His humor, his love of life, his cultural insight and his faithful, humble love for his wife, his university students and for children from trauma backgrounds in the St. Louis area, made Hal an inspiration to anyone who had the good fortune of knowing him." The Bushes often traveled, including to Japan, where Hiroko was born. In 2017, the scholar published a novel, "The Hemingway Files," under the name H.K. Bush. Set in Japan, it involved an English professor seeking clues to a mystery involving author Ernest Hemingway. Bush was born in 1956 in Indianapolis, the son of Harold Bush Sr. and Mary Lyon. He earned his doctorate in philosophy from Indiana University. Married for 34 years to Hiroko Hara Bush, their only son, Daniel, died in 1999. Besides his wife, Bush is survived by another son, Joseph Puglisi, three sisters and one brother, and several nieces and nephews. A memorial service is expected to be held in November. https://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/books-and-literature/hal-bush-slu-english-professor-and-writer-dies-at-age-64-after-traumatic-fall/article_e57aa30a-44b7-5266-ac17-89f7f9062add.html#tracking-source=home-the-latest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMM28 Posted August 19, 2021 Share Posted August 19, 2021 Sad news. Lots of great posters have gone much too soon around here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coach314 Posted August 19, 2021 Share Posted August 19, 2021 Condolences to his friends and family Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BilliesBy40 Posted August 19, 2021 Share Posted August 19, 2021 RIP to a real one. Gone but not forgotten. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted August 19, 2021 Share Posted August 19, 2021 Condolences to his family. I sat with Doc B one game and enjoyed his company and his posts here. He was a true Billiken fan. He'll be missed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reinert310 Posted August 19, 2021 Share Posted August 19, 2021 RIP @DoctorB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clocktoweraccords2004 Posted August 19, 2021 Share Posted August 19, 2021 Rip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianstl Posted August 20, 2021 Share Posted August 20, 2021 Doctor B and I went at it a few times on this board. He was obviously a big fan who was an accomplished, smart and interesting individual. May Doctor B rest in peace while enjoying a great conversation or two with Mark Twain in the great beyond. Billiken Rich and JMM28 like this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quality Is Job 1 Posted August 20, 2021 Share Posted August 20, 2021 I'm sorry to see this. Not to make light of anything tragic, but with the fall occurring in January, the last that he saw, the Billikens were ranked and a good bet for an at-large bid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old guy Posted August 20, 2021 Share Posted August 20, 2021 Accidents happen, lives are cut short before their times. Sorry to hear this. RIP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted August 20, 2021 Share Posted August 20, 2021 Rest in peace Doc B. You were a true-blue Billiken fan, enthusiastic MBM and apparently, a really cool dude in real life. We've got a lot to live up to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlumniFan Posted August 20, 2021 Share Posted August 20, 2021 So sad and shocked to hear this news. Hal was an awesome guy. So smart, so knowledgeable and a great sense of humor. I really enjoyed the games we watched together. I will think about him every game I go to. Peace Hal, the world is a better place for having you as a part of it. JMM28 likes this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ARon Posted August 20, 2021 Share Posted August 20, 2021 Really nice pieces on DoctorB on STLToday now. https://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/books-and-literature/hal-bush-slu-english-professor-and-writer-dies-at-age-64-after-traumatic-fall/article_e57aa30a-44b7-5266-ac17-89f7f9062add.html https://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/books-and-literature/a-present-minded-professor-hal-bush-coaxed-best-from-slu-students/article_67dd850b-4ede-59b0-8527-cebdbda4a7a2.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoosierPal Posted August 20, 2021 Share Posted August 20, 2021 This one hurts. I sat with Hal at quite a few Billiken games. Like me, he went to HS in Indiana. RIP fellow Hoosier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basketbill Posted August 20, 2021 Share Posted August 20, 2021 9 hours ago, HoosierPal said: This one hurts. I sat with Hal at quite a few Billiken games. Like me, he went to HS in Indiana. RIP fellow Hoosier. Sorry to hear! Do not ask for whom the bell tolls….. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted August 20, 2021 Share Posted August 20, 2021 Saw this yesterday but had no idea who it was. Thanks for sharing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
courtside Posted August 20, 2021 Share Posted August 20, 2021 Condolences to his family and friends and those who know him. Far too young. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLURadioBoy Posted August 20, 2021 Share Posted August 20, 2021 That’s awful. I really enjoyed his posts, especially his reports from practices. He will be missed. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cowboy II Posted August 20, 2021 Share Posted August 20, 2021 -condolences to his family, may he rest in peace, from all accounts a great Billiken fan and will be missed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Band Legend Posted August 20, 2021 Share Posted August 20, 2021 Doctor B was one of my favorite posters, and like most hoosiers took his basketball very seriously. RIP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu72 Posted August 21, 2021 Share Posted August 21, 2021 RIP DrB. Your Billiken.com legacy ensured by predicting great things for D. Evans. SLU_Lax and Reinert310 like this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Major Majerus Posted August 22, 2021 Share Posted August 22, 2021 Years ago when I had 2 tickets so I could take a friend to spread Billiken mania. I put one up on this board & he claimed it. We enjoyed the game & each other. He invited me to a pickup game at a grade school gym in U City where he lived - I played a few times but he didn’t renew the gym the following year. By that time we were friends & he had 1st dibs on my extra ticket when available. He complained that there were no ticket perks for the faculty in the form of seating choices or pricing. I attended his book signing program for the Hemingway opus & bought one - good read & I have since passed it on. I always ran into him while doing half time laps around the concourse. I’ll miss him. Reinert310, BilliesBy40, Box and Won and 1 other like this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willie Posted August 22, 2021 Share Posted August 22, 2021 Great article about him in the Sunday Style section in the Post. Major Majerus and HoosierPal like this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deutschkind Posted August 25, 2021 Share Posted August 25, 2021 Sad to hear. I rented from him back in med school. He had downsized, and rented his old house to us for the 4 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pistol Posted August 25, 2021 Share Posted August 25, 2021 I had to break the news to my brother, who hadn't heard yet. He had Dr. Bush for 6 classes and was his TA in grad school. He also worked with him on his book "Continuing Bonds with the Dead". Not that I was particularly involved in my brother's grad school work, but I never made the connection that this was DoctorB. My wife took one of his classes, too. Both of them had great things to say about him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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