Joseph Staples Van Why was born in Winsted, Connecticut, on June 2, 1927. He graduated cum laude from Trinity College in Hartford and received his master's degree in classics from Brown University, where he served as librarian pro tempore of the Anne Mary Brown Library. Following a teaching fellowship at Bowdoin College, he taught at Hebron Academy and served nine years as chairman of the Classics Department at Loomis School.

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