NEWS RELEASE, 1/17/97 Darrell Amyx, UC Berkeley professor of art history from 1946 to 1974, died Jan. 10 after a long illness

by Gretchen Kell

Berkeley -- Darrell A. Amyx, professor emeritus in the History of Art Department at the University of California at Berkeley, died at his home in Kensington, Calif., on Jan. 10 following a long illness. He was 85. He was born in Exeter, California, on April 2, 1911. He received a BA in classics from Stanford University in 1930 and his graduate degrees from UC Berkeley, with an MA in Latin in 1932 and a PhD in Latin and classical archaeology in 1937. Amyx joined the UC Berkeley faculty in 1946. During his tenure, he served as chair of the Art Department from 1966 to 1971; assistant dean in the College of Letters and Science from 1964 to 1965; and curator of classical art in the University Art Museum from 1965 to 1976 and in the R.H. Lowie Museum of Anthropology -- now called the Phoebe Apperson Hearst Museum of Anthropology -- from 1958 to 1978. His grants and honors were numerous. They included being a fellow of the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, a Fulbright senior research grantee to Greece and a fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies. He received two Guggenheim fellowships, four grants from the American Council of Learned Societies and two grants from the American Philosophical Society. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and was a corresponding member of the Istituto di Studi Etruschi ed Italici, Florence, and of the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Berlin. Amyx also was a member of the Archaeological Institute of America, the American Philological Association and was associate editor for the former journal "California Studies in Classical Antiquity" from 1968 to 1972. Among his lengthy list of distinguished publications in ancient art and, specifically, Corinthian studies, is a three-volume work, "Corinthian Vase-painting of the Archaic Period (UC Press, 1988), and his most recent work, "Studies in Archaic Corinthian Vase Paintings: Aftermath," a collaborative effort with Patricia Lawrence published in the journal "Hesperia." Amyx's scholarly life was guided by his deep love of all things Corinthian, particularly that ancient city's archaic painted pottery. His knowledge of ancient art history was both deep and broad, and he embued his students with an understanding and love of the subject as well as guided and inspired them in many other aspects of their lives. He is survived by his wife, Eleanor, of Kensington, whom he married in 1936, and his daughter, Ellen Anne. At his request, no memorial services will be held. Donations in his memory may be sent to The American School of Classical Studies, 54 Souidiaes, GR 106-76, Athens.