In Memoriam Dr. August Coppola

August Coppola (1934-2009) taught Comparative Literature in the sixties and seventies at CSULB before moving on to San Francisco State in 1984, where he became dean of the College of Liberal and Creative Arts until 1992. He was the father of Nicolas Cage, the American actor, and the brother of renowned filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola.

Dr Coppola earned a BA from UCLA in philosophy, a Master’s in English from Hofstra University, and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Occidental College in 1960. He was a strong advocate for the arts, as well as a film executive.  He founded and presided over the San Francisco Film and Video Arts Commission and served on the jury of the 36th Berlin International Film Festival in 1986. He was also the author of a fine romantic novel, The Intimacy (1978). The 150-seat August Coppola Theater on the San Francisco State University campus is named in his honor. The Comparative Literature conference room on the fifth floor of the Macintosh Building at CSULB was also named after him.