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Theater professor Frank Rutledge dies

By Lisa Mulcrone

Rutledge

Long-serving professor of theatre and co-founder of MSU’s Summer Circle Theatre, Frank Rutledge of East Lansing, died on Feb. 19. He was 72.

During 47 years of service to MSU, Rutledge served two terms as chairperson of the Department of Theatre.Though he officially retired from the university in 2007, he continued to advise faculty in the department on play selection and other issues.

“For close to 50 years Frank Rutledge instilled a deep appreciation for the performing arts in the lives of MSU students,” said George Peters, chairperson of the Department of Theatre. “Frank Rutledge not only taught theater history, he made it.”

Provost Kim Wilcox said, “Frank was iconoclastic, in the best possible sense of the word. He encouraged people to think differently and to challenge themselves intellectually, emotionally and aesthetically. He worked to make theater a part of many people’s lives, over many years.”

He is survived by his wife, Gretel Geist, a longtime faculty member in the Department of Theatre.