University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: January 31, 2008

Anne Payne, professor emeritus of English

A memorial service was held on Sunday in Clemens Hall for F. Anne Payne, a UB faculty member for almost 50 years who died Jan. 22 in the Center for Hospice & Palliative Care after a long illness. She was 75.

Born in Harrisonburg, Va., Payne grew up in a military family and lived throughout the United States.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Shorter College in Rome, Ga., in 1954, then went on to Yale University, where she earned a master’s degree and a doctorate.

Payne joined the UB English department faculty in 1958 after teaching for several years at Connecticut College. She was promoted to full professor in 1975.

Her teaching and scholarly interests included Old English, later medieval literature—English and European, especially Chaucer— and satire.

She retired in 2007.

Payne was a member of the Medieval Academy of America, the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists, the New Chaucer Society and Pi Kappa Lambda.