 Dr. Parson was also an active Freemason.He was the author of one of the most important critical works on Sir Walter Scott and nineteenth century Scottish literature, "Witchcraft and Demonology in Scott's Fiction," published in 1964, and wrote extensively for academic journals in the United States, Scotland, England and Germany.In June 1991 Dr. Parsons died at his home in Manhattan following complications while recovering from a stroke.