In Memoriam: D. Dennis Hudson: Journal of Vaishnava Studies

Abstract

Dennis Hudson (16 Feb. 1938–10 Dec. 2006), Emeritus Professor of World Religions at Smith College and one of the foremost American
scholars of the religions of India, was born in Long Beach, California, and grew up in Lomita, the son of Lisle McClellan and Dean B. Hudson, a dock worker in the oil industry and a chicken farmer. As a boy, Dennis worked on the farm candling eggs, and he became the more studious of the four Hudson brothers—Bruce, Dennis, Neal, and Marvin—and as Neal explains, “We were all raised with a strong work ethic and to argue our point of view. Most of our evening meals (we always ate dinner as a family) were spent arguing some issue. Dennis and Pop usually going at it.”