William L. Vance, 90, died on Wednesday, September 25th, 2024 at his home in Spearfish.

William was born in Dupree, South Dakota April 19, 1934 to Earl and Ruby Vance.  His family moved to Spearfish in August 1935 where he attended school K-12.  He graduated from Oberlin College in 1952 and received his M.A. ('57) and Ph.D. ('62) from University of Michigan.  He began his career as a Professor of English at Boston University in 1962. His service there included chairmanship of the Department of English and Directing the American and New England Studies Program until January 1, 2000 when he commenced his retirement, living in Rome, Italy for 10 years.  He published articles on Whitman and on American novelists from Cooper to Hemingway.  He is the author of America's Rome (2 vols., Yale, 1989), which received the Ralph Waldo Emerson Prize and other awards. Vance was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1990-91 and won the Metcalf Cup and Prize for Excellence in Teaching in 1992. Upon receiving one of his students stated "He is brilliant and knows everything there is to know about his field".  Among his many other publications is Henry James: Complete Short Stories 1874-1884. Annotation. New York: Library of America, 1999. He moved to Spearfish in 2019 to live in his home designed by Herbert Aslesen.

He was preceded in death by his parents and five siblings, Gaile Bekken, Lyle Vance, Violet Gustafson, James Vance, Tom Vance, and friend of 40 years Charles Pierce.  He is survived by his siblings Diane Sebring, Elaine Swarts, Rosalie Aslesen and many nieces and nephews.

William was buried on September 28 at Rose Hill in Spearfish.

For those who wish to donate in his memory, there are two options for BHSU music students- Dorothea Blyler/Emma Dippert music scholarship or Boston Petro/Rosalie Aslesen violin scholarship. Make checks payable to BHSU Foundation

Memo: name of scholarship.

Online condolences may be written at www.fidler-isburgfuneralchapels.com