Sad, but he was 89. Definitely a positive contributor to our heritage, though very unusual at times. I believe Paglia did her doctorate under him (and it shows).
I heard him lecture in the 90s on Shakespeare. Pretty incredible, really. And he was always delightfully opinionated.
Barely a blip on the national media scene, who have no use for dead white men and their brilliant observations on the superiority of western civilization and the modern age and standard of living that they created. Sad.