Obituaries
- ️Tue Oct 28 2008
Christopher Dell, 81, an analyst in history and public affairs at the Library of Congress's Congressional Research Service from 1958 to 1985, died of cardiac arrest Oct. 13 at Sibley Memorial Hospital.
Mr. Dell wrote "Lincoln and the War Democrats: The Grand Erosion of Conservative Tradition," published by Fairleigh Dickinson University Press in 1975.
In retirement, he moved around the Eastern Seaboard and was a columnist for the Naples (Fla.) Daily News, and in 1992 co-founded a monthly newspaper, the Richmond (N.H.) Rooster. He returned to Washington in 1997.
Mr. Dell was born in Manhattan, N.Y., and raised in the District. His father, Floyd, was a prominent novelist and literary critic.
The younger Mr. Dell was a 1946 graduate of the old Central High School, which he followed with brief Army service in Saipan.
He was a 1951 graduate of Goddard College in Vermont and received a master's degree in American history from the University of Maryland in 1956.
His memberships included the Civil War Round Table of Washington, and his hobbies included playing jazz guitar and piano.
His marriage to Barbara Widutis ended in divorce.
Survivors include his wife of 40 years, Kathleen Kane Dell of Washington; two daughters from his first marriage, Jerri Dell of Cumberland, Md., and Katie Dell Kaufman of Takoma Park; a daughter from his second marriage, Mia Dell of Hamilton, New Zealand; and six grandchildren.
-- Adam Bernstein