Prof. Hugh Z. Norton Succumbs At Age 50

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Prof. Hugh Z. Norton Succumbs At Age 50

Hugh Z. Norton, 50, associate professor of speech and a director of speech department plays at the University of Michigan, died of a stroke yesterday in St. Joseph Mercy Hospital. He had lived at 1402 Washington Heights.

He was born on Sept. 24, 1912, in Gloverville, N. Y., the son of Frederick E. and Clara Mittler Norton. He was graduated from Rensselaer, N. Y., high school in 1930.

He received his bachelor of arts degree, cum laude, in 1936, from New York State College. In 1941, he was awarded the master of arts degree from the U-M, where he also received his doctoral degree in 1947.

In 1942, he married the former Dorothy M. Haydel of New Orleans, La. She survives.

Prof. Norton first joined the U-M staff in 1941, as a teaching fellow while working on advanced degrees. He was a lecturer in English from 1942 to 1944. He was named lecturer in speech in 1946, instructor in 1947, and assistant professor in 1949. He was promoted to associate professor in 1956.

He had directed many plays and operas of the speech department since 1941, and had also served as an academic counselor, helping students plan their courses of study.

For several years recently he had read the citations for honorary degree recipients at University commencement exercises.

Prof. Norton’s professional experience included acting in the Leslie Howard company of Hamlet, the Fred Stone company and the Mohawk Drama Festival of Schnectady, N. Y., in which he performed under the direction of Charles Coburn for six years before coming to Ann Arbor. He also acted in radio and many summer stock productions. He was a recording artist for the American Foundation for the Blind and a cathedral musician at the Cathedral of All Saints in Albany, N. Y.

He appeared as Brother Dominic with Vera Zorina in Arthur Honegger’s dramatic oratorio, “Jeanne d’Arc au bucher” in in the 1961 May Festival.

Prof. Norton held memberships in the Speech Association of America, the Michigan Association of Teachers of Speech, the Michigan Academy of Science, the American Educational Theatre Association, Actors’ Equity Association and the American Association of University Professors.

In addition to his wife, his mother, Mrs. Clara M. Norton of Rensselaer, N. Y., survives. Funeral services will be held at 3 p.m. Wednesday at the Muehlig Chapel with the Rev. James H. Middleton officiating. Entombment will take place later in Forest Hill Cemetery.

Friends may call at the chapel.