David Adams Leeming was born on February 26, 1937, in
Peekskill, New York, the son of Frank Clifford Leeming, an
Episcopal priest, and Margaret Adams Reeder. Leeming received his B.A. from
Princeton University in 1958. In 1959, he did a summer course graduate study at the
University of Caen. From
New York University he received his M.A. in 1964, and his Ph.D. in 1970. Leeming was Head of the English Department at
Robert College in
Istanbul, Turkey, from 1958 to 1963. From 1964 to 1967, he was the secretary-assistant of author
James Baldwin. Since 1969, Leeming was Assistant Professor of
English at the
University of Connecticut. He eventually became Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Connecticut, where he in later years has served as Professor Emeritus. Leeming has written variously in comparative literature of
mythology and edited numerous encyclopedias and dictionaries on the subject. He has also written biographies on
Beauford Delaney,
James Baldwin, and
Stephen Spender. Leeming is a member of the
Modern Language Association of America and the Federation of University Teachers. On July 2, 1967, Leeming married Pamela Elaine Fraser, with whom he has the daughters Margaret Adams and Juliet Ann. ==Selected bibliography==