Alfred Kern

Who was Alfred Kern?

Alfred Kern was an American novelist and professor.

He served as the Frederick F. Seely Professor of English at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania, from the 1950s until his retirement in the mid-1980s.

During the 1979–1980 academic year, Kern was Distinguished Visiting Professor of English at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, which inspired several articles relating the arts to the military. These were published in the USAF journals.

During the 1980s, he also experimented with writing poetry using computers with an Allegheny College colleague, James Sheridan. According to a family member, he lived in Pittsburgh after retiring from Allegheny for about 10 years, where he is still remembered.

Born Alfred Cohen August 8, 1924, in Alliance, Ohio, he legally changed his name in 1946. During World War II he served in the U.S. Army Air Forces and graduated from Allegheny College and New York University. He died June 2, 2009 in Wilmington, North Carolina.