Ralph Vernon Norman, Jr., passed away on October 13, 2022, at home in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, with his loving wife Linda at his side.

Dr. Norman was born on February 5, 1933, in Johnson City, Tennessee. In 1942, his family moved to Knoxville, where he attended Fountain City Elementary and then Central High School, from which he graduated at the top of his class in 1951. He went on to the University of Tennessee, from which he received his bachelor's degree in Philosophy and English in 1954 and his master's degree in Philosophy in 1956. In 1955, he married his high-school sweetheart, Cornelia June Shirley, was accepted as a Fulbright Scholar, and moved with Connie to Tübingen, Germany, for his yearlong study of theology. The Normans welcomed their first child, Emily Celeste, in September 1960. Dr. Norman received his BD from Yale Divinity School in 1958 and completed his graduate work in Philosophical Theology at Yale University, earning his Ph.D. in June 1961. The family moved to Oxford, Ohio, where he taught both philosophy and religion at Miami University during 1961-1966. While in Ohio, the Normans welcomed their second child, Stephen Christopher, in 1964.

In 1966, Dr. Norman returned at last to the University of Tennessee to be Professor and Head of a new Department of Religious Studies, to which he succeeded in drawing an extraordinary and diverse array of scholars. In 1971, he joined the university administration as Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, and in 1973, he became Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs (a position later known as Vice Provost). He was a founding member and then chair of the Tennessee Committee for the Humanities from 1974-1976, and he served on the national board of the Association of American Universities. In 1985, when the University of Tennessee agreed to join the Society for Values in Higher Education in sponsoring the interdisciplinary quarterly Soundings, Norman assumed its editorship, and kept at that highly rewarding enterprise from 1985 to 2000—guiding the journal with the exhortation to "seek simplicity, and distrust it." Working closely with the Office of International Studies, he helped to build closer faculty ties with Bonn University in Germany, creating a student exchange agreement beginning in 1986. The resulting North American Studies program led to a steady stream of transatlantic scholarship, as faculty in Journalism, History, English, Judaic Studies, Religious Studies, and Law traveled to Germany, while members of Bonn's faculty journeyed to Knoxville. In honor of his leadership at the University of Tennessee, he received the University Studies Award for Distinguished Service in 2002 and the Chancellor's Citation for Extraordinary Service in 2003.

In 2000, Dr. Norman unexpectedly lost his dear son Stephen, and in 2003, he retired from the university following Connie's diagnosis with progressive supranuclear palsy. He spent the next four years devoted to Connie's care, offering tireless support and love, before her passing in February 2007.

Much of Dr. Norman's retirement was spent in one of his favorite places: Blowing Rock, North Carolina where his mother, Anna Lee Crisp Norman, was born in 1904. After Connie's death, friends and neighbors in Blowing Rock introduced him to Linda Lillo, who had also recently lost her husband. They were married in 2008 and over the next 14 years divided their time among Key Largo, Blowing Rock, and Knoxville. When asked where they were, it would be "wherever it is 75 degrees" and where he could easily pick up a croquet mallet.

Beyond his family and academic career, Dr. Norman's other enthusiasms were legendary. One of his former colleagues said that "Ralph was the best-read man east of the Mississippi," and he always enjoyed intellectual discussions on all subjects. As president of the Knoxville Croquet Club, he elevated the lawn game into a sport of immense skill and strategy, and in retirement, he established and ran an annual croquet tournament to benefit the Knoxville Opera Guild, for which he also served as a board member. He was an enthusiastic member of the local Wodehouse Society, and loved participating in readings of Wodehouse's short stories with other members at their homes or over Zoom. And, in memory of his booming cheers for his beloved Volunteers, his family felt his presence two days after his passing, when the VOLS defeated Alabama for the first time since 2006.

Dr. Norman is survived by his wife Linda, daughter Emily Norman Cox (David), grandchildren Jonathan Andrew Cox (Anne) and Caroline Grace Cox, and great-grandson, David Browning Cox. He was preceded in death by his wife Connie, son Stephen, sister Sara Norman Hale, and parents Ralph V. Norman, Sr., and Anna Lee Crisp Norman.

A memorial service will be held at St. John's Episcopal Cathedral, 413 Cumberland Blvd., Knoxville, TN on December 6th at 4pm.

The family asks that, in lieu of flowers, donations be given in Dr. Norman's memory to St. John's Cathedral, https://www.stjohnscathedral.org/ or Knoxville Opera https://www.knoxvilleopera.org/home or The Religious Studies Endowment at UT https://giving.utk.edu/ralphnorman

Online condolences may be sent to the Norman family at www.hamptonfuneralnc.com

Hampton Funeral and Cremation Service is in charge of the arrangements.