F. David Hoeniger

Frederick J. David Hoeniger was born in Goerlitz, Germany in 1921. As a child he attended the Quaker School, Eerde, in Ommen, Holland, and in 1938 received an Oxford School Certificate. He later moved to Toronto where he attended Victoria College in the University of Toronto. In 1946 he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English. He was a lecturer at the University of Saskatchewan from 1946–47, after which he returned to Victoria College as a lecturer from 1948–55. During this time he obtained a Masters (1948), and a Ph. D (1954) which he received from the University of London after becoming a British Council Scholar from 1951–53. In 1954 he also married his first wife Judith F. M. Hoeniger, with whom he had two children, Brian and Cathleen. 

After 1955 Hoeniger was promoted to many positions at the University of Toronto, including Assistant Professor in 1955, Associate Professor in 1961, Professor in 1963, and Chairman of the English Department between 1969–72. He served as the first Director of the Centre for Renaissance and Reformation Studies (between 1964-69 and 1974-79) at Victoria College. He spearheaded the development of its collections and acquisitions policies, and developed many of its programs, such as the annual Erasmus Lecture. He also played a key role in the establishment of the Victoria College Renaissance Studies Program, and the CRRS Publications series.

Hoeniger was also involved with many publications. In 1960 he became associate editor of the seventh edition of Representative Poetry, and between 1971–85 he was General Editor of The Revels Plays. He also published several scholarly books including editions of Shakespeare’s Pericles, Prince of Tyre and Henry VIII, and The Growth of Natural History in Stuart England, which he co-wrote with his wife Judith, an academic scholar in her own right.

Hoeniger retired in the early 1990s and resided in Toronto with his wife Xu Xuenqing. Some of his recreations include travelling and studying ornithology. F. David Hoeniger passed away in September of 2016.