Theodore Ziolkowski (September 30, 1932 – December 5, 2020) was a scholar in the fields of German studies and comparative literature.

[1] Theodore J. Ziolkowski was born on September 30, 1932, in Birmingham, Alabama, to Cecilia (née Jankowski) and Mieczysław Ziółkowski, second-generation and first-generation Polish immigrants to the United States.

[2] Following appointments at Yale and Columbia, he was called to Princeton University as professor of German in 1964.

In 1969 he was appointed Class of 1900 Professor of German and Comparative Literature and, from 1979 to 1992, Dean of the Graduate School.

A past president of the Modern Language Association (1985) and visiting professor at several universities (Yale, CUNY, Rutgers, Bristol, Munich, Lueneburg), he received many awards for his books and honors in the United States and abroad, including the Goethe-Medaille of the Goethe-Institut, the Jacob-und-Wilhelm Grimm Preis (DAAD), the Forschungspreis of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Bundesverdienstkreuz (1.