Herbert Gordon May, the son of Charles Leon and Mabel Maria (Cottrill) May, was born December 26, 1904 in Fairhaven, Vermont. May was an internationally recognized linguist, cartographer, Biblical translator, and theologian. Between 1934 and 1966, he was a professor of Old Testament Language and Literature at the Oberlin Graduate School of Theology (GST).

A graduate of Wesleyan University (1927), he received a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago (1934), B.D. from Chicago Theological Seminary (1930), and D.D. from Wesleyan University (1952). During the 1930s, as a graduate fellow, he was part of the University of Chicago archeological expedition to the Megiddo in Palestine (modern-day Israel), 1931-1934, and later he was involved in archeological, historical and geographical research in Greece and other parts of the Middle East. Subsequently, he joined Oberlin’s GST faculty, and was honored as a Charles G. Finney Professor of Old Testament Languages and Literature in 1946. After the Graduate School of Theology was transferred to Vanderbilt University, he held a joint professorship at Vanderbilt and Oberlin from 1966 until his retirement in 1970. Post-retirement, he taught at Yale Divinity School and Oberlin College.

Dr. May was a member of the Revised Standard Version Bible Committee [originally the Standard Bible Committee], Division of Education and Ministry of the National Council of Churches of Christ of the U.S.A., 1945-1977. He was chairman of the Committee, 1966-1976, and head of its Old Testament section from 1960 until his death. He was co-editor of the Oxford Bible Atlas and the Oxford Annotated Bible and Apocrypha, and one of four associate editors of the Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible. He was author of Our English Bible in the Making, Ezekiel: Introduction and Exegesis, and Material Remains of the Megiddo Cult. Dr. May’s published works numbered over 200 items. In terms of his service to the wider profession, he was past president of the American Oriental Society, Midwest Branch, 1947-1948, and the Society of Biblical Literature and Exegesis, 1961-1962, and held membership in a number of other organizations.

In 1928 Dr. May married Helen Porter (1902-1977). They had two children: Gola Joyce Kina (b. 1933) and Helen Emily (b. 1941). Professor May was both liked and respected. At Oberlin College where the term “Dr.” is rarely used in referring to a professor, he was known by that title while some of those close to him addressed him as “Uncle Herbie.” In appreciation of this life and work, Oberlin College started the Herbert Gordon May Lecture. Dr. May died in Jacksonville, Florida on October 7, 1977.

William E. Bigglestone’s unpublished “[preliminary] Guide to the Oberlin College Archives,” which was prepared as individual entry sheets in a three-ring binder during the early 1980s. The faculty file of Herbert May (28/3) was also consulted.

Faculty file of Herbert G. May, Alumni and Development Records (RG 48/3).