Wolfgang E. "Wolf" Thormann, former professor and chairman of the department of modern languages at Goucher College and a lifelong Francophile, died Monday at Greater Baltimore Medical Center of heart failure. He was 90.
"The students loved him, and he was a massive presence in the room. That is the only way I can describe him," said Florence Martin, professor of modern languages, literatures and cultures at Goucher College, who was recruited to come to the college by Dr. Thormann in 1983. "He was a great raconteur and had high academic standards. We all are devastated at his death."
The son of Werner Thormann, a journalist, and Charlotte Fochner Thormann, a homemaker, Wolfgang Ernst Thormann was born in Augsburg, Germany.
His father worked for a newspaper in Augsburg, which is in Bavaria, and later moved his family to Frankfurt when he joined a newspaper there.
"He was very much committed to politics and so he tried not only in his articles but also in meetings with politicians, business people, with anyone of good will who would want to work against extreme nationalism," said Dr. Thormann in a biographical film by Michael Christen, a member of the Goucher College Class of 2014.
"So, we knew he was fighting for peace and understanding. The Weimer Republic was our idol to which we looked," recalled Dr. Thormann.
Because of the rise of Nazism in Germany and his father's opposition to it, the family moved to Paris in 1933, where Dr. Thormann graduated from Lycee Albert de Mun, a high school. Paris was also where he embraced what became his lifelong love of French language and culture.
Dr. Thormann recalled in the film the hardships of the early years after the fall of France in 1940 and the subsequent occupation of Paris, which included little food and no coal for heating.
In 1942, his father was able to secure the necessary visas and the family embarked on a voyage from Lisbon with 1,000 other passengers aboard the Serapinto, a steamer that was flagged in Portugal, which was a neutral country during World War II.
"Leaving France was a greater shock to me than leaving Germany," he said. "I remember the voyage took six weeks" before the passengers landed in Staten Island, N.Y.
After briefly attending St. Joseph College in Philadelphia, Dr. Thormann entered the Army and became a naturalized American citizen in 1943.
Dr. Thormann, who attained the rank of sergeant, was assigned to Army intelligence in Europe.
After the end of the war, he served for a year in the War Department's Documentary Service evaluating documents that were used in the prosecution of former high Nazi officials at the Nuremberg war crimes trials that began in November 1945.
Discharged from the Army, Dr. Thormann entered Columbia University on the GI Bill of Rights and earned a bachelor's degree in French, and subsequently a master's degree and his doctorate in 1955, also in French.
Dr. Thormann taught at Williams College and the Johns Hopkins University before joining the Goucher faculty in 1960. He was chairman of what became the modern language department from 1960 to 1971; and again from 1979 until his retirement in 1989.
"Dr. Thormann was regarded as an outstanding and innovative teacher and an involved administrator," according to a Goucher statement announcing his death. "He believed in teaching language through culture and study abroad. He created a three-week intensive program in Paris, decades before Intensive Studies Abroad existed at Goucher."
"He believed that French culture was both lively and colorful, and he brought this to his classroom," said Dr. Martin, who later headed the department. "He was beloved by many people, including his colleagues and students alike."
Sybille Ehrlich, who also was a member of Dr. Thormann's department, taught at Goucher from 1963 until retiring in 1988.
"When I came to Goucher, he was head of the department at the time," said Dr. Ehrlich. "He had a great sense of humor and was very engaging. He was very much involved in trying to get students involved in the cultural aspects that went beyond language studies. The faculty always liked and respected him."
She praised Dr. Thormann's leadership of the department.
"There were times at Goucher when problems arose in the department and he was able to steer them through with diplomacy and tact," recalled Dr. Ehrlich.
Witty and urbane, Dr. Thormann was much in demand as a speaker and presented numerous talks to the Alliance Francaise.
After retiring, Dr. Thormann, who was known as "Wolf," remained active at Goucher, often substituting for French instructors. He was regularly invited to lecture classes on France and Germany and his experiences during World War II.
In recognition of his contributions in teaching and spreading French culture, the French government named him a Chevalier in the Order of the Academic Palms.
Dr. Thormann lived for more than 30 years in Towson's Campus Hills neighborhood before moving in 2010 to the Edenwald retirement community.
In addition to spending summers in France, Dr. Thormann enjoyed reading and writing.
"He lived for French culture," said a son, Daniel Thormann of Monmouth Beach, N.J.
Dr. Thormann was a longtime communicant of Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church, Baltimore and Ware avenues, where a Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Saturday.
In addition to his son, Dr. Thormann is survived by his wife of 61 years, the former Monique Dubourg; two other sons, Jean-Francois Thormann of Indianapolis and Dominique Thormann of Paris; and 10 grandchildren.