NEWS

Photo note: To download a photo of Wilson, see end of release.

Sociologist Robert N. Wilson UNC professor emeritus, dies

CHAPEL HILL -- Dr. Robert Neal Wilson, a professor emeritus in sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, died Friday at his home in Carrboro. He was 78.

A specialist in the sociology of literature and of health, Wilson taught at UNC for 27 years. He also was a professor of epidemiology and chair of the department of mental health in the School of Public Health.

His many scholarly writings included the books "The Give and Take in Hospitals" (co-written; G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1956), "Man Made Plain: The Poet in Contemporary Society," (Howard Allen, 1958) and "The Sociology of Health: An Introduction" (Random House, 1970). A veteran of World War II, Wilson earned battle stars for his service as a field artillery sergeant in Europe.

Since retiring from UNC in 1990, Wilson has written and published poetry, tutored for the Orange County Literacy Council and been a gallery teacher at UNC's Ackland Art Museum.

A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. Dec. 26 at Chapel of the Cross, 304 E. Franklin St., Chapel Hill, where Wilson was an occasional lay leader and service coordinator. The family asks that those wishing to honor Wilson donate to their own favorite charities. Arrangements are being made by Walker's Funeral Home.

Surviving are Wilson's wife, Joan, and daughters, Lynda Wilson of Chapel Hill and Deborah Coffey of Fayetteville.

Wilson was born in Syracuse, N.Y., and raised in Schenectedy. After his Army service, from 1943-46, he resumed studies at Union College in Schenectedy, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1948 with a bachelor's degree. He earned his doctorate in sociology in 1952 from Harvard University.

Wilson was a research associate and assistant professor at Cornell University, then on the staff of the Social Science Research Council in Washington, D.C. He completed a one-year fellowship at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences in Stanford, Calif.

From 1957-60, Wilson lectured in the social relations department of Harvard Medical School, where he also directed a training program for social scientists in medicine. He was an associate professor of sociology at Yale University from 1960-63, just before coming to Carolina.

At UNC, Wilson taught courses including "Literature and Society," "Work and Leisure" and "The Sociology of Health." For several summers he directed enrichment seminars for teachers from two-year and small four-year colleges. The National Endowment for the Humanities funded the seminars in the late 1970s and early 1980s, in which Wilson taught "Sociological and Psychological Aspects of Modern Literature."

Wilson was a fellow of the American Sociological Association and the American Public Health Association. In 1975, he was a Fulbright Senior Research Scholar at Lund University in Sweden.

Other activities included lecturing at the International Center for Excellence of the World Leisure and Recreation Association in the Netherlands and consulting for organizations including the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, the National Institute of Mental Health, the Easter Seal Research Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Wilson's three-plus page listing of books and articles includes "Explorations in Social Psychiatry" (Basic Books, 1958), which he co-edited; "Coming Home: The Problem of After-Care," which he wrote in 1965 for the Southern Regional Education Board; "Community Structure and Health Action" (Public Affairs Press, 1968); and "The Writer as Social Seer" (UNC Press, 1979).

In recent years, Wilson wrote poetry and essays, many of which appeared in literary magazines.

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To download a photo of Wilson, click to http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/faculty/former/wilson_robert_n.jpg

Contact: Walker's Funeral Home, 942-3861