A memorial service will be held Sunday, Oct. 19, for longtime Yale faculty member Imbrie Buffum, who died after a long illness on July 7 at the age of 82. The service will take place at 3 p.m. in Christ Church,
84 Broadway.
Professor Buffum was a member of the French department faculty 1946-80. A highly regarded scholar, he specialized in the study of the baroque style as it is manifested in French poetry and literature of the 16th and early 17th centuries, and the association of this development with parallel developments in art and architecture.
"Those who knew Imbrie were invariably impressed by his high intelligence and erudition, coupled with an unpretentious manner," says David I. Roe, Professor Buffum's godson. The Yale scholar also had an "unusual facility with languages," says Mr. Roe. In addition to his expertise in French, Professor Buffum was fluent in Italian, spoke German and Spanish, and read Latin. He also was known for his practice and enjoyment of fine French and Italian cooking.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Professor Buffum spent some time in Venice, where he mastered the Venetian dialect. He was elected an honorary gondolier and presented a medal by a society of Venetian gondoliers, principally in recognition of his services in helping them understand American visitors to Venice.
Professor Buffum spent almost his entire academic career at Yale, where he came to teach after serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, achieving the rank of lieutenant commander. At Yale he helped establish the senior society "Manuscript" in the 1950s and was a member of the Elizabethan Club. He was awarded dual Fulbright and Guggenheim fellowships for 1952-53, and in 1957 he received tenure as associate professor.
Born in 1915 in Princeton, New Jersey, Professor Buffum was the son of a Princeton University French professor. He was schooled at home until the 8th grade, then attended the Lawrenceville School. While at Lawrenceville, he distinguished himself by achieving the highest score in the nation on an advanced placement physics examination -- an achievement that was celebrated with a day off from classes for the entire student body.
Professor Buffum graduated from Princeton in 1935 at the age of 20. He became an instructor in French at Princeton for one year. He then spent two years at the Sorbonne in Paris. He received his Ph.D. from Princeton in 1942. His thesis, which concentrated on Montaigne, was later published.
Subsequent to his retirement from Yale, Professor Buffum lived in the Bethany Center in Horseheads, New York, for about eight years. He then moved to the Homestead Center, Soldiers and Sailor's Memorial Hospital in Penn Yan, New York. Professor Buffum, who never married, is buried near his parents in Princeton Cemetery.