Dr. H. Ray McKnight, professor emeritus of English, passed away on Aug. 5 in Richmond, California. He was 88.

A specialist in Restoration and 18th Century literatures and drama, McKnight taught courses in literature and composition at Fresno State from 1965 to 1997.

In addition to teaching, McKnight was a highly skilled and quietly ambitious administrator at the program level. Among his many professional contributions, McKnight:

• in 1980 founded the Young Writers’ Conference, an annual spring event that welcomes over 400 area high school students and their teachers to Fresno State for a day of creative writing;
• in 1979 co-founded, with Dr. James Frey, the San Joaquin Valley Writing Project, a network of area K-16 educators, who support the teaching and learning of writing in all disciplines;
• and in the early 1990s coordinated the English Department’s writing committee, which includes the First-Year Writing program and impacts all students on campus across the curriculum.

In addition, McKnight was an early supporter and three-time faculty director of the College of Arts and Humanities’ popular London Semester study abroad program, which began in 1984 with founding director Dr. Lyman Heine.

According to Tanya Nichols, an English instructor who has coordinated the Young Writers’ Conference since 2007, McKnight was “not only a gifted professor, he was a true visionary whose influence surpassed the walls of any classroom.” Nichols said her life, and the lives of so many others, are richer because of McKnight’s work.

In 2020, to mark the 40th anniversary of the Young Writers’ Conference, Nichols established a new Ray McKnight Award, now included among the event’s student prizes. She said his legacy will continue through the award, as the English Department continues to recognize the next generation of Fresno writers at the conference.

Ray McKnight is survived by daughter Kate McKnight and her husband Mike Mogan; daughter Sarah Serafimidis and her husband Neo Serafimidis; daughter Carrie McKnight and her husband Glenn Barnes; grandsons Logan Wippern and Theo Serafimidis; sister Dee Brown; nieces Audrey Williams and Anne Robinson; nephew Stuart Brown; and several cousins. He was preceded in death by his parents and by his wife, Margaret A. McKnight.

A private inurnment service was held at Belmont Memorial Park in Fresno. A celebration of life will be held later this fall, date to be announced. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial gifts be made to a charitable organization of choice, or to the Fresno State English Department. Checks can be made to the Fresno State Foundation, with “H. Ray McKnight Scholarship” in the memo, and mailed to 2380 E. Keats Ave., MB99, Fresno, CA 93740. For questions about donations, call 559.278.8341.

To read a full remembrance story about McKnight, visit the College of Arts and Humanities blog.