Robert Lundquist Chapman (December 28, 1920 – January 27, 2002) was an American professor of English literature who edited several dictionaries and

thesauri A thesaurus (: thesauri or thesauruses), sometimes called a synonym dictionary or dictionary of synonyms, is a reference work which arranges words by their meanings (or in simpler terms, a book where one can find different words with similar me ...

. Chapman was born in

Huntington, West Virginia Huntington is a city in Cabell County, West Virginia, Cabell and Wayne County, West Virginia, Wayne counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The County seat, seat of Cabell County, the city is located at the confluence of the Ohio River, O ...

to Curtis W. Chapman, a typewriter mechanic, and Cecelia Lundquist Chapman, a homemaker. Chapman graduated from

Cooley High School Thomas M. Cooley High School is an abandoned high school located at the intersection of Hubbell Avenue and Chalfonte Street, on the northwest side of Detroit, Michigan. The three-story, Mediterranean Revival-style facility opened its doors on S ...

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

in 1939. As a young man, he worked in factories and drove a truck, then enrolled at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

to study English literature. One of his teachers at Michigan was the poet W.H. Auden. Chapman's college career was interrupted by

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, when he served in Europe with the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

. He returned to Michigan afterwards and received his bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees.Elaine Woo.
R. Chapman, 81; Wordsmith, Roget’s Editor
''Los Angeles Times''. February 24, 2002. Retrieved on August 27, 2008. Over the years, Chapman taught English at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

, Oswego State Teachers College, Wilkes College, and

Drew University Drew University is a private university in Madison, New Jersey, United States. It has a wooded campus. As of fall 2020, more than 2,200 students were pursuing degrees at the university's three schools. While affiliated with the Methodism, Me ...

, with whom he became a

professor emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

in 1986. He specialized in

medieval literature Medieval literature is a broad subject, encompassing essentially all written works available in Europe and beyond during the Middle Ages (that is, the one thousand years from the fall of the Western Roman Empire ca. AD 500 to the beginning of t ...

, and was jokingly said to resemble

Geoffrey Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer ( ; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for ''The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...

in appearance. Between his teaching jobs, Chapman held full-time editing positions. From 1960 to 1964, he worked for

Funk & Wagnalls Funk & Wagnalls was an American publisher known for its reference works, including ''A Standard Dictionary of the English Language'' (1st ed. 1893–5), and the ''Funk & Wagnalls Standard Encyclopedia'' (25 volumes, 1st ed. 1912).Funk & Wagnalls N ...

, where he served as a supervising editor for ''Funk & Wagnalls Standard College Dictionary''. He also had a brief stint with

Holt, Rinehart & Winston Holt McDougal is an American publishing company, a division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, that specializes in textbooks for use in high schools. The Holt name is derived from that of U.S. publisher Henry Holt (1840–1926), co-founder of the ...

, for whom he helped edit the 1966 release of the ''Holt Intermediate Dictionary of American English''."Robert L(undquist) Chapman". ''Contemporary Authors Online''. Gale. June 5, 2003. Retrieved on August 27, 2003. Chapman edited the fourth and fifth editions of ''

Roget's Thesaurus ''Roget's Thesaurus'' is a widely used English-language thesaurus, created in 1805 by Peter Mark Roget (1779–1869), British physician, natural theologian and lexicographer. History It was released to the public on 29 April 1852. Roget was ...

'', published by

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

in 1977 and 1992. Chapman chose to retain Roget's original system of numbered categories rather than use an alphabetical system, which he found "jejune". To the fifth edition, he added thirty new categories

Fox, Margalit Margalit Fox (born April 25, 1961) is an American writer. After earning a master's degree in linguistics, she began her career in publishing in the 1980s. In 1994, she joined ''The New York Times'' as a copy editor for its ''Book Review'' and la ...

"Robert Chapman, 81, Roget's Thesaurus Editor"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. February 5, 2002. Accessed March 11, 2011. and over 50,000 new words, such as ''

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and en ...

'' and ''

yuppie Yuppie, short for "young urban professional" or "young upwardly-mobile professional", is a term coined in the early 1980s for a young professional person working in a city. The term is first attested in 1980, when it was used as a fairly neu ...

''. Chapman also edited HarperCollins' ''New Dictionary of American Slang'' (1986), the ''Thesaurus of American Slang'' (1989), and ''Roget A to Z'' (1994). Barbara Ann Kipfer, who edited the sixth edition of ''Roget's Thesaurus'', noted that Chapman was one of the first

lexicographer Lexicography is the study of lexicons and the art of compiling dictionaries. It is divided into two separate academic disciplines: * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionary, dictionaries. * The ...

s to regularly use computer databases to study words as used in the popular press. Chapman lived in

Madison, New Jersey Madison is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Morris County, New Jersey, Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 16,937, an increase of 1,092 (+6.9%) from the 2010 United ...

, and died in nearby Morristown in 2002 after battling a long illness. He was survived by his wife and three sons. In an obituary, Paul Farhi of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' wrote, "On behalf of blocked writers everywhere, we salute Mr. Chapman. We also doff our caps, raise a toast, sing his praises, acclaim, commend and laud him."Paul Farhi. "Homage to a Man of Many Words". ''

''. February 7, 2002. C01.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chapman, Robert 1920 births 2002 deaths United States Army personnel of World War II Drew University faculty People from Madison, New Jersey United States Army soldiers University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts alumni Writers from Huntington, West Virginia Writers from Detroit Military personnel from West Virginia Educators from West Virginia American academics of English literature Cooley High School alumni 20th-century American lexicographers