Alain Ranwez, Ph.D., longtime professor of French in the Metropolitan State University of Denver Department of Modern Languages, died April 20. A Celebration of Life for friends and family will be held today at 11 a.m. at Horan & McConaty, 7577 W. 80th Ave. in Arvada. Light refreshments will follow the service.
Ranwez was born during World War II in German-occupied Paris on June 25, 1944. His family moved to Canada and later to Maine before settling in Kearny, New Jersey. After graduating in 1963 from Kearny High School — where he participated in football, basketball, wrestling and track — Ranwez attended Montclair State College. There, he met Kathleen Purzycki, and the two married in 1968.
Ranwez pursued graduate studies in French and Italian literature at the University of Missouri thanks to a National Defense Education Act scholarship. Ranwez also completed his doctorate at the University of Missouri and moved his family to Denver in 1972, when he was offered a teaching position at then-Metropolitan State College of Denver. He taught French at the University for the next 41 years. For many of those years, he led students on annual four-week study programs in Hyères, France. He also continued his studies at the University of Chicago, Washington University and Princeton University, thanks to grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities. He retired from MSU Denver in 2013 and was granted emeritus status for his service and contributions to the University.
He was the author of “Jean-Paul Sartre’s Les Temps Modernes: A Literary History” and a number of articles on literature and pedagogy. In addition to teaching French language and culture courses, he was an actor with the Alliance and Co. French Repertory for 20 years and was an active reviewer of fictional works for the French Review. The lifelong educator also drew, painted, cheered for the Broncos, played petanque and pickleball and loved to cook, travel and host summer cookouts.
He is survived by his wife, Kathleen Ranwez; daughters Jennifer and Danielle and their spouses Nathan and Ryan; and grandchildren Cassidy, Zachary and Zoe.