Former CSULB professor dies after 30-year career

Professor Abraham Albert Avni, 73, whose teaching career spanned three decades in the English department at Cal State Long Beach, died April 19, due to complications from pneumonia.

"He was a sweet man, nothing but good memories," said Patricia Aleman, administrative aide for the English department.

Avni, long-time Long Beach resident, started his CSULB instruction in September 1964. His focus was romanticism. His classes included, English Romanticism, Literary Criticism, Literature for Adolescents, Survey of Comparative English Literature, and Bible in English.

Aleman said Avni was very active in the English department, especially during the early '70s. He was called upon to write many articles and reviews. In 1969, his book, "The Bible and Romanticism: The Old Testament in German and French Romantic Poetry," was published.

In the mid '80s, Avni went from full-time to part-time teaching because of health problems.

Nurit Grady, his only child, recalled her father's emotional state upon his retirement in 1989.

"He loved CSULB; he still wanted to teach so bad," she said. Grady also said her father was an avid poetry reader. "Lord Byron was one of his favorites," she said, adding that he researched poetry extensively.

Born and raised in Czechoslovakia, Avni's educational endeavors took him to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, where he earned three master's degrees, one in literature, another in philosophy and the third in Hebrew. He was graduated in 1964 with a doctorate in comparative literature from the University of Wisconsin.

Besides his teaching career, Avni was a member of the Modern Language Association and acted as secretary to the Minister of Education in Jerusalem in the 1950s.

Avni is survived by his wife, Judith, and his daughter. He is also survived by Grady's husband, Dennis, and one grandchild, Dennis Grady Jr.

Services were held on Sunday at Forest Lawn Memorial in Long Beach.