Timothy Baker Shutt passed away peacefully at Whispering Hills Care Center in Mount Vernon, Ohio on November 9th 2025. He was 75 years old.
Dr. Shutt was a professor at Kenyon College for 35 years, from 1986 to 2021, where he taught medieval and Renaissance literature. An exceptional teacher, warm-hearted, and a gifted speaker, he received many awards over the years, including the Trustee Award for Distinguished Teaching in 1993, and five times was awarded the Senior Cup, presented each year to the community member who has contributed most to the college. Known for his jovial personality and big, bellowing laughter, his favorite course to teach, on Dante's "Divine Comedy," was often so oversubscribed that students had to sit in window sills.
Timothy Baker Shutt was born in Newark, Ohio on June 23rd 1950, to Richard Jack Shutt and Gratia Lucy Baker Shutt. He was raised in Bay City, Michigan, where he developed his love for sports, especially baseball and competitive swimming. He attended high school at The Hotchkiss School ('68), where he was honored as an All-American swimmer and greatly enjoyed acting in plays. He received a Bachelor of Arts from Yale University in 1972, and then spent three years as a teacher at St. Mark’s School of Texas, where he taught English, History, and coached swimming and water polo. He then went on to graduate school in English, specializing in medieval literature and the history of ideas at the University of Virginia as a du Pont Fellow. After earning his Ph.D. in 1984, Dr. Shutt spent two further years at Virginia as Mellon Post-Doctoral Research Fellow.
While in Virginia he met Leslie Lynn Moran, who he married in 1982, and they remained very happily married until her death in 2022.
Dr. Shutt was an avid supporter of Kenyon Athletics, working as NCAA faculty representative, and for many years announcing Kenyon home football games, swim meets, and even the NCAA and NCAC Division III Swimming and Diving Championships. He loved assisting with the swim program, and for a couple of seasons was an assistant diving coach for the Kenyon diving team.
In his spare time, Dr. Shutt loved to be outside in the peaceful Ohio countryside, which he adored, and he regularly gave bird walks and star talks at the Brown Family Environmental Center. He published numerous works for Recorded Books Modern Scholar Series, among them the popular "Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans: The Foundations of Western Civilization". He had an extraordinary love for and kinship with animals, most especially cats, to the point that for many years when students found a stray on campus they would "call Dr. Shutt, he'll take the kitty!" He was a member of Saint Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Mount Vernon, where he was proud to serve as a lector.
Dr. Shutt is survived by his mother Lucy Baker Shutt, his daughter Pruitt (Drew) McCoy, stepdaughter Doub (John) Hanshaw, stepson Whitt (Colston) Hanshaw, sister Anne (Patrick) Trahan, brother Robert Shutt, five grandsons, and many nieces and nephews. He is also survived by dear friend Cathy Bostwick.
In addition to his wife, he was preceded in death by his father, Jack Shutt, and a brother, Michael Shutt.
A celebration of life service will take place at a later date. The Snyder Funeral Homes of Mount Vernon are honored to serve the family of Timothy Baker Shutt.
