Philip Klass (William Tenn) 1920-2010

Philip Klass, who wrote SF as William Tenn, 89, died February 7, 2010 of congestive heart failure.

Klass is best known for his satirical, humorous SF work. His first SF story was “Alexander the Bait” in Astounding (1946). Klass also wrote two novels, Of Men and Monsters (1968) and short novel A Lamp for Medusa (1968), and numerous non-fiction articles and essays, some of which were gathered in Hugo finalist Dancing Naked: The Unexpurgated William Tenn (2004). Klass was named SFWA Author Emeritus in 1999, and was Guest of Honor at the 2004 Worldcon.

Philip Klass was born May 9, 1920 in London. His family moved to New York when he was still a baby, and he grew up in Brooklyn. He served in the US Army during WWII as a combat engineer, and began writing in 1945 following his discharge. He taught English and comparative literature at Penn State for almost 25 years, retiring as professor emeritus. He is survived by wife Fruma and a daughter, Adina.

See the March issue of Locus for a complete obituary.
Photo credit Charles N. Brown 2001.