Z. Philip Ambrose, a longtime resident of Burlington and beloved professor of classics at the University of Vermont, died peacefully surrounded by his family and his cherished dog Furbo on February 11, 2025, at the McClure Miller Respite House. He was born on June 9, 1936, in Ponca City, Okla., to Zuell C. Ambrose and Thelma Ambrose, née Kingery. Among the childhood places dear to his heart were Ville Platte in Louisiana’s Cajun country and his maternal grandparents’ farm outside Garber, Okla., where he spent many happy summers. A graduate of Neville High School in Monroe, La., he earned his BA, MA and PhD from Princeton with a dissertation on Homeric epic.
Philip joined the faculty in the Department of Classics at UVM in 1962, where he made his career and served as chair (1973 to 1992; 2001 to 2006) until retiring in 2006. An inspiring and demanding teacher, he won the George V. Kidder Outstanding Faculty Award in 2006. His teaching of Greek mythology was legendary and attracted students from a wide range of interests and disciplines. He worked tirelessly to build and maintain high school Latin and foreign language programs in the state, establishing Vermont Latin Day in 1977, an annual event that still brings hundreds of secondary school students to the UVM campus from around the state. He also served as the treasurer and curator of funds of the Classical Association of New England for many years. He wrote a definitive paper on the study of classics at UVM from its foundation onward. In 2018, the UVM Department of Classics celebrated his legacy with four sold-out performances of Euripides’ Helen, featuring a new collaborative translation by former students and colleagues that developed his own earlier translation of the play. In 2021, when UVM suspended support for its old and well-regarded MA program, Philip undertook to keep it going until the present day through the establishment of the Ambrose Graduate Fellowship in Classical Languages.
His knowledge of German, mastered during a year of graduate study in Vienna, combined with his musical pursuits and interest in the connections between mythology and the texts of Bach’s vocal works, led him to undertake what would become his life’s work. A fervent philologist, he translated the complete vocal works of Bach, J.S. Bach: The Vocal Texts in English Translation With Commentary, first published in 1984 and continuously revised until his death; as well as Ovid’s Metamorphoses (2004). A fine musician who could be found daily at the piano, harpsichord, fortepiano or organ, he was a founding member and performer on harpsichord and recorder with the UVM Baroque Ensemble (1965 to 1991), presenting concerts with Jane Ambrose, his dear friends Bill and Liz Metcalfe, Jill Levis, Peter Tourin, Larry Read, and others; and sang with the Oriana Singers (1981 to 2017). He devoted his retirement years to playing the organ at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Northfield and to making music with Larry Read, Peter Brown and Wayne Schneider as well as with his children and grandchildren, of whom he was so proud.
Philip’s language skills enabled him to reconnect with long-lost family in Goldenstedt, near Bremen, Germany, and to lead a second life in the beautifully groomed hills of the Crete Senesi around Asciano, Italy, where he transcribed the first translation into Italian by Bernardino Daniello of Virgil’s Georgics and translated it into English with commentary.
Philip was preceded in death by his first wife, Jane Perlis Ambrose, mother of his daughters, Lisa Kingery Ambrose Meyer and Julia Greer Ambrose Viazmenski; and by his brother, Robert Alan Ambrose. He is survived by his wife, Gretchen van Slyke, along with Lisa and her partner, Brian Woods, of Waterbury Center, Vt.; and Julia and her husband, Alexei Viazmenski, of Etna, N.H.; by his grandchildren, Zachary Raphael Meyer, Jonathan Ambrose Meyer, Miriam Rose Viazmenski and David Philip Viazmenski; and by his nephews, Robert Owen Ambrose and David Alan Ambrose, and their families.
A funeral mass at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Northfield and a memorial at the University of Vermont will take place at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations to the McClure Miller Respite House, 1110 Prim Rd., Colchester, VT 05446, would be much appreciated.
This article appears in Love & Marriage Issue 2025.