Gilbert Highet (1906–1978)

Gilbert Highet was a Scottish-American classics professor, writer, intellectual, literary critic and historian.  He met his wife, the spy novelist Helen MacInnes, while they were fellow students at the University of Glasgow, and they were married in 1932. In 1937 he was appointed to the chair of Latin and Greek at Columbia University and they moved to New York. He stayed at Columbia until 1971, except for British Army service in World War II. He became a naturalized USA citizen in 1951. Besides teaching, Highet also was a prolific author of books and essays, hosted a radio program, acted as a judge for the Book-of-the-Month Club, and served on the editorial board of Horizon magazine.