Darwin Turner, an authority on African-American literature who taught at the University of Iowa for two decades, died Feb. 11 at Mercy Hospital In Iowa City. He was 59 years old and lived in Iowa City.
He died of a heart attack, the university said.
Dr. Turner, the University of Iowa Foundation Distinguished Professor of English, began his teaching career at Clark College in Atlanta in 1949. He taught at Morgan State College and Florida A & M University and was chairman of the English department at North Carolina A & T College before joining the Iowa faculty in 1972.
Dr. Turner, a native of Cincinnati, was admitted to the University of Cincinnati at the age of 13. He received a bachelor's degree three years later, earned a master's in English from Cincinnati at the age of 18 and a doctorate from the University of Chicago when he was 25.
He edited a number of anthologies, including "Black Drama in America" and "Black American Literature," published by Charles Merrill and Company.
Dr. Turner is survived by his wife, the former M. Jean Lewis; his mother, Laura, of Cincinnati; a daughter, Pamela Welch of Austin; two sons, Darwin, of Atlanta and Rachon, of Washington; a brother, Charles, of Boston and a grandson.