1. In Memoriam: Sidney J. Williams Jr., Professor of Romance Languages Emeritus

Office of Communications and Public Affairs
November 7, 2025

Sidney James "Jim" Williams Jr., professor of romance languages emeritus at Washington and Lee University, died on March 24, 2024, in Fairfax, Virginia. He was 85 years old.

Williams was born on Aug. 21, 1938, to Dr. Sidney James Williams and Ludie McKay Williams in Livingston, Alabama. After attending Livingston High School, he received his Bachelor of Arts from Davidson College. He then went on to earn his master's degree and Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

He began teaching Spanish at W&L in 1966 in the Romance Languages Department. In 1967, he received a John M. Glenn Grant, which allowed him to continue researching Spanish pastoral romance and modern Spanish theater in Buenos Aires. He specialized in Miguel de Cervantes' "Don Quixote," and he was involved in the university's Foreign Study Committee, which helped launch the six-week foreign study program in what would become Spring Term Abroad. He chaired the Romance Languages Department for a number of years and created a popular seminar course, Latin American Detective Fiction. He retired from W&L in 2006 after 40 years with the university.

Williams was honored after his retirement with the naming of the Carlyle Westbrook Barritt and Sidney J. Williams Jr. Spanish Prize Endowment after him and his Romance Language Department colleague. The permanently endowed fund established a prize to recognize an outstanding rising senior in Spanish.

Outside of teaching, Williams loved performing music, a passion he cultivated as a child. He played music by ear and could perform a piece after hearing it only once. While in Lexington, he accompanied student recitals and played percussion with the local community orchestra. He likewise had a gift for cooking - also not needing a recipe to follow - and he served as an elder at the Lexington Presbyterian Church.

He is survived by his sister, Letitia Krebs; daughter, Elizabeth McCarthy (Daniel); son, Robert Williams (Caroline); and grandchildren Maddy, Sylvia and Calvin Williams.

His full obituary was recently published by Bumpers Funeral Home.