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AMHERST - C. Alan Soons died Dec. 29, 2011, peacefully at home in Amherst.

He was born in 1925 in Grantham, Lincolnshire, and wrote books and numerous articles on the literature of the Spanish Golden Age, which were particularly well received in Europe and Latin America.

He attended Magnus Grammar School in Newark-on-Trent and The King's School in Grantham. After serving in the Royal Navy in World War II, he studied at Sheffield, Nottingham, Zaragoza and Harvard universities. He was a member of the faculty at the universities of St. Andrews, the West Indies in Jamaica, Massachusetts, Rice and SUNY at Buffalo, where he was a tenured professor from 1972 until his retirement.

He spent the last years of his life carefully distributing his vast collection of rare books to various libraries such as Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek in Weimar, Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel and The Renaissance Center in Amherst.

Alan is remembered by all for his modesty and gentleness.

He is survived by his children, Conrad (Germantown, N.Y.), Jonathan (West New York, N.J.) and Giselle (London, England).