Professor Robert W. McHenry Jr., a “gentleman’s gentleman” and a scholar of English literature who introduced Shakespeare to countless students at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, will be remembered at a private service Aug. 23.

McHenry, who had prostate cancer and heart trouble, died May 22 at the Queen’s Medical Center after falling at home. He was 71.

In his 45-year career at UH-Manoa, McHenry taught courses on Shakespeare as well as 17th- and 18th-century British literature, and his research focused on poet, dramatist and critic John Dryden. The professor’s passion for Shakespeare was infectious.

“At UH he is credited with changing the way that Shakespeare was taught,” said his daughter Elizabeth Streich, who lives in Sunnyside, N.Y. “Previously it had been taught only to students majoring in English. Wanting to expose more students to Shakespeare, he developed a course, Shakespeare and Film, which focused on adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays. … It was a very popular course, and it’s continued to be taught by other faculty today.”

The adaptations ranged from Dryden’s play “All for Love,” a retelling of “Antony and Cleopatra,” to the musical “Kiss Me Kate” and the movie “Shakespeare in Love.”

McHenry’s gracious style charmed both colleagues and students. He was in top form as a teacher late in his career. In 2013 he received the Excellence in Teaching Award from UH’s College of Languages, Linguistics and Literature, having been nominated by his students.

“Teaching gets harder after a certain age because there is more distance between you and the students,” said professor Laura Lyons, who chairs the UH-Manoa English Department. “People don’t usually get better at that point. But he got better — and he was already really good! He thrived on seeing them get excited about these older works that interested him.”

Julia Wieting, a former student who is earning her doctorate at UH-Manoa, said McHenry was “charismatic but not flamboyant.”

“The world of tenured professors can be very rarefied, but he was very down-to-earth,” she said. “He was very caught up on how these older authors are being made relevant over and over again. He had surprisingly current references.”

Over the course of his career, McHenry served as director of undergraduate studies and of graduate studies at the English Department. At a faculty party in May, before his expected retirement in June, he was toasted as “a gentleman’s gentleman.” Among the tributes was this verse: “Gracious, explosive, operatic, enthusiastic and fair; Charming, cheerful, supportive and daring to care.”

He always made a point of being welcoming to new faculty and graduate students, Lyons said.

“He felt young at heart and was always generous,” Lyons said. “He was never a divisive person. People listened when he spoke. And he always wanted people to present their better selves and stepped in to help them towards that.”

At home he made up stories to entertain his daughters, and later his grandchildren, about witches with fanciful names who lived in the mango tree in the family’s backyard.

McHenry was born in Panama City, Fla. He grew up in Hampton, N.H., and earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English from Boston University. He got his doctorate in English at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Hoping for warmer weather, he landed a teaching position at UH in 1970, where he met his wife, Patricia, now a partner at the Cades Schutte law firm.

McHenry is also survived by daughter Margaret Brogowicz of San Diego; brothers Steven B. McHenry of Eliot, Maine, John T. McHenry of Enfield, N.H., and Joseph G. McHenry of Marin, Calif.; sister Mary Ann McHenry of Lyons, Colo.; and five grandchildren. Donations in his honor may be made to the UH English Department via the University of Hawaii Foundation.