Jay Brian Losey, age 67, of Waco died peacefully October 15th, 2022, surrounded by family. A memorial service is pending.

Born to Mildred Martin and Edwin "Jimmy" Losey, Jay was raised in Orlando, FL, before Disney World, in the shade of orange trees. Jay and his Irish twin Keith waterskied on the Indian River and bodysurfed at Cocoa Beach. The family trips to Daytona, where his father had raced as a young man, sparked Jay's lifelong passion for NASCAR. Jay attended public schools in College Park, graduating from Edgewater High School. To pay for college, he worked summers on the freighters hauling iron ore across the Great Lakes. At the University of Florida, Jay discovered English literature, later earning his M.A. from the University of Michigan and his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia, writing on epiphany from romanticism to modernism. In Charlottesville, he made lifelong friends, playing racquetball, flag football, and city league softball. There, in 1983, Jay and Elizabeth married.

Jay joined the faculty of Baylor University in 1986 as Lecturer in English, rising to Assistant and then Associate Professor and retiring in 2018. Specializing in Victorian and modern British poetry and prose, he enjoyed teaching many courses, including in the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core. Active in Baylor's chapter of the American Association of University Professors, he served twelve years on the Faculty Senate and was elected Chair of the Senate from 2000-2001. He served as Graduate Director of English. He published on Walter Pater, Oscar Wilde, and James Joyce. Later in his career, perceiving a global rise in authoritarianism, he devoted his reading to Holocaust literature and published on Primo Levi. In the classroom, Jay encouraged students to challenge old precepts and think for themselves. As a dissertation director, he provided honest feedback that allowed students to make real progress. Jay believed in the "idea of the university"—that in community and through meaningful dialogue students and scholars could search for truth.

Jay was a gentle father who encouraged his children to explore their passions, find their own ways, and consider the world from different perspectives. Ever a man of humor, Jay loved reading aloud the "Captain Underpants" series to his children, entertaining them with football games in the yard and stories about his boyhood antics. His fondness for driving led the family across country to Virginia, Florida, and Colorado, and with his son, to Talladega each fall to witness forty drivers "start their engines." A favorite trip was to Port Aransas, where he taught his children to brave the third shelf and where he found calm among the waves.

In his retirement, Jay volunteered at Shepherd's Heart, delivering groceries to seniors on fixed incomes, and at Fuzzy Friends, greeting families seeking cat adoptions. He was a longstanding member of Lake Shore Baptist Church.

Preceded in death by his father Jimmy and brother Keith, he is survived by his wife of 39 years, Elizabeth Dell; mother, Millie Martin of Warsaw, IN; son and his wife, Dylan and Hannah Losey of Blacksburg, VA; daughter, Clare Losey of Austin, TX; nieces, Kate and Robin Losey, of Milford, CT, and Albuquerque, NM, respectively; and cat, Alfie.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a donation to Shepherd's Heart at 205 S. 26th St., Waco, TX, 76710.