Traugott Lawler grew up in Nyack, NY, attended Regis High School in Manhattan and then Holy Cross College. He spent three years as a Marine officer, then got a Masters in English at Wisconsin and a PhD at Harvard. He taught at Yale 1966-72, wasn’t tenured and went to Northwestern 1972-81, then came back to Yale as professor of English in 1981. He was Master of Ezra Stiles 1986-95 and Acting Master 2002-3. He retired in 2005, but he still goes to work every day to write and (in some semesters) teach and has continued to be a Freshman and Sophomore adviser. He and his wife Peggy have four children and eight grandchildren, ages 26 down to 6. He plays golf and old-guys’ softball, and he shoots baskets but no longer plays basketball.