Robert T. Meyer
Robert Theodore Meyer, a talented linguist and scholar, began his career at this university in 1947 teaching Comparative Philology and eventually rising to the rank of Order of the Hibernians Chair in Celtic Studies from 1953-1976.
Meyer first met Tolkien at an Oxford garden party when Tolkien enthusiastically jumped into a conversation Meyer was having with the Inking Fr. Gervase Mathew O.P. on the Irish epic hero Cú Chulainn. The friendship began based on a mutual interest in Celtic history and linguistics, and was bolstered by their shared faith. We owe our signed Tolkien book to his generous donation.
If you wish to browse the finding aid for Robert Meyer's papers, it can be found here.
This ID card is from Meyer’s time at University of Michigan, where he received his PhD in Indo-European Linguistics in 1943.
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In the later picture, Professor Meyer (far right) passes on his linguistic expertise while presiding as chair of the Celtic department.
Meyer spoke on his relationship with Tolkien in a talk he gave at Catholic University entitled, My Reminisces on Tolkien. The contents of his talk, as well as the rest of his papers can be found in the University Archives but you can see the first few pages here.