Durant da Ponte

Durant da Ponte (7 July 1918 – 9 July 1964) was a professor of American literature at the University of Tennessee. He was one of the founders of the Kentucky-Tennessee American Studies Association. Graduate students there can receive the Durant da Ponte American Literature Fellowship, which was founded in his memory.

Life
Durant da Ponte was born on July 7, 1918, in New Orleans, Louisiana, to Harry Graham da Ponte II and Julia Pratt. He was a direct descendant of opera librettist Lorenzo da Ponte. He was the oldest of three children, having a younger sister Lyndall, and a younger brother, Harry Graham da Ponte III. He married Martha Lee Osborne, a former professor of philosophy at the University of Tennessee, and had two children, David and Graham. He died in the crash of United Airlines Flight 283 in 1964.