Anthony C. Gosse

Anthony C. Gosse, 92, of Maryland, died early in the morning on Friday, April 18, 2014 at Harmony Hall in Columbia, MD.

He was born August 21, 1921, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where his father, the late John Edward Mahoney, was comptroller of a large chemical company.  His parents divorced when he was two years old and he was raised by his mother, the late Mary Shaler Gosse, in Greenwich Village, New York City.  When he was 11, she renamed him Anthony Cabot Gosse; until then he had been John Mahoney, commonly known as "Sean" or "Sonny."

In the early 1930’s he went to Friends Seminary in New York City and later to Rutgers Preparatory School. In 1940 Anthony entered Princeton University on a scholarship.

On the day of Pearl Harbor he tried repeatedly to enlist, but was rejected because of poor eyesight.  Anthony was later drafted, and served as a Second Lieutenant in the Medical Supply Corps in Louisville, Kentucky, supervising an all-black platoon.  He retired from the military in 1945 because of an ulcer; graduated from Princeton in 1946 and entered graduate school at Columbia, majoring in English.

In 1950 Anthony met the former, Dey Erben and they were married March 1953.  That year he moved to Providence, RI, where he worked as an Instructor at Brown University and their first child, Anthony Erben Gosse, was born.  While at Brown, he coached the debate team to an Ivy League title. Their son, Henry (known as Van) was born in 1957, and their son, Charles was born in 1959. In 1960, as Anthony was finishing his Ph.D., he was hired as an assistant professor at Bucknell University, Lewisburg. Their daughter, Caroline was born in 1962.

In 1969, Anthony took the first of many sabbaticals in London, England, after receiving tenure the year before. His family moved to New York City, and he was later divorced.  In the 1970’s and 80’s, Anthony often acted in Bucknell productions, while continuing to teach and visit England nearly every year. He retired in 1991.

Anthony also became a pistol marksman and avid gun collector, and joined the Norry Gun Club. In 2006, he moved to the RiverWoods assisted living facility, Lewisburg and later to assisted living places in Maryland near two of his children.

Surviving are his children and their spouses, Anthony (Rong) Gosse, Van (Deborah) Gosse, Charles (Laura) Gosse, and Caroline (Stephen) Elmendorf; and seven grandchildren.

A graveside committal will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Lewisburg Cemetery. The family is planning a memorial service that will follow at 10:30 a.m. at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 255 S. Derr Drive, Lewisburg, with the Rev. M. Peter Harer, officiating.