Remembering our Colleagues

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Aragon, George (d. 2009)
Airasian, Peter (d. 2014)
Araujo, Norman (d. 2021)
Beaton, Al (d. 2022)
Berney, Arthur (d. 2020)
Biggar, Ray (d. 2015)
Blackwell, Henry (d. 2012)
Bronstein, Eugene (d. 2017)
Brazier, Gary (d. 2005)
Bruyn, Severyn (d. 2019)
Buni, Andrew (d. 2012)
Byers, Jeffery (d. 2023)
Carovillano, Robert (d. 2015)
Casey SJ, Joe  (d. 2015)
Cawthorne, John (d. 2012)
Craig, Ken (d. 2022)
Criscenti, Jacqueline (d. 2015)
Criscenti, Joseph (d. 2013)
Casper, Leonard (d. 2018)
Cimino, Sarah (d. 2017)
Cobb-Stevens, Richard (d. 2018)
Dietrich, Donald (d. 2013)
Dineen, Mary (d. 2017)
Donovan, John (d. 2020)
Donovan, Peter (d. 2017)
Duffy, Kevin (d. 2012)
Duffy, Mary (d. 2022)
Faulkner, Robert (d. 2023)
Fitzgerald, John (d. 2016)
Florescu, Radu (d. 2014)
Gaillardetz, Richard (d. 2023)
Gamson, Bill (d. 2021)
Gips, James (d. 2018)
Gordon, Marjorie (d. 2015)
Gottschalk, Peter (d. 2022)
Griffin,Mary (d. 2019)
Guillemin, Jeanne (d. 2019)
Hanwell, Albert (d. 2016)
Halpin, James (d. 2021)
Haney, Walt (d. 2022)
Harris, Ruth Ann (d. 2012)
Heineman, John (d. 2017)
Helmick SJ, Raymond (d. 2016)
Herbeck, Dale (d. 2023)
Himes, Fr. Michael (d. 2022)
Holmstrom, Lynda (d. 2021)
Huber, Richard (d. 2011)
Iatridis, Demetrius  (d. (2018)
Kugel, Peter (d. 2021)
Lowenthal, David (d. 2022)

 

Araujo, Norman

Dr. Norman Araujo, age 87, of Walpole, Massachusetts, and retired Associate Professor of forty-nine years at Boston College, passed away on Monday, February 8, 2021 at Care One in Randolph, Massachusetts. Born in New Bedford, Massachusetts on March 22, 1933, he was the son of the late Jose and Julia Marie (Coracao) Araujo.

Norman married his beloved Barbara on March 4, 2000 at the Chapel of the Sacred Heart, Newton, Massachusetts and is survived by his spouse, Barbara Cartmill Araujo, a stepson, Kevin J. Cartmill and a stepdaughter, Tracey Cartmill Zacharias.

 

Gamson, Bill (d. 2021)

He created a game of simulated baseball that was a precursor to today’s fantasy sports. As a professor, he devised a role-playing game to help students address societal problems.

Bill Gamson, an eminent sociologist who explored the structure of social movements and whose childhood love of games led him to create one that became an inspiration for the fantasy sports industry, died on March 23 at his home in Brookline, Mass. He was 87.

The cause was sarcoma, a type of cancer, his son, Joshua, said.

While a young research associate at Harvard, Professor Gamson indulged his enthusiasm for baseball and his attachment to games by creating what he called the National Baseball Seminar, a simulated game in which each person in his group (originally three) had a budget to draft major leaguers for a team. The players were measured throughout the season based on batting average, runs batted in, earned run average and wins.

“We felt these statistics reflected productivity, but in truth there wasn’t a tremendous availability of statistics back then,” Professor Gamson told ESPN the Magazine in 2010. “We knew these four would be published in all the papers.”

When he moved to the University of Michigan in 1962, he recruited about 25 people to his game, including Robert Sklar, a history professor. In 1968, Professor Sklar mentioned it to Daniel Okrent, a student he was advising. A decade later, Mr. Okrent invented the more complex Rotisserie League Baseball, which lets its “owners” make in-season trades; it’s considered the closest ancestor to today’s billion-dollar fantasy sports industry.

“There’s no question that the flowering of Rotisserie baseball arose from very rough seeds scattered a dozen years earlier by Bill Gamson and Bob Sklar,” Mr. Okrent, a writer and editor who was the first public editor of The New York Times, wrote in an email. “Would something like Rotisserie have happened otherwise? Probably — but it wouldn’t have been started by me.”

Professor Gamson thought of his game as a minor part of a career that included authorship of “The Strategy of Social Protest” (1975), a data-driven examination of the success, failures and leadership of 53 social movement organizations from 1800 to 1945.

“What preceded him were studies that saw movements as irrational reactions to stress in society, and his innovation was to flip that and treat the behavior of movements as rational and subject to scientific analysis,” Joshua Gamson, a sociology professor at the University of San Francisco, said in an interview.

The elder Professor Gamson participated in a protest himself in 1965, when he helped lead a teach-in against the Vietnam War at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

The teach-in is believed to be the first against the war, staged as American military involvement in Vietnam was accelerating. It began at 8 p.m. on March 24 and lasted for 12 hours as professors and activists gave speeches and seminars to upward of 3,000 students. Bomb threats, reportedly by a pro-war group, twice interrupted it.

“There was a sense of a general mass movement,” Professor Gamson said in an oral history interview in 2015 by the University of Michigan, adding that President Lyndon B. Johnson’s “betrayal” of his promises during the 1964 presidential campaign not to escalate the war “fueled a kind of anger and righteous indignation.”

The Michigan teach-in inspired others at campuses around the country.

Professor Gamson was one of a group of professors who provided a supportive atmosphere for Students for a Democratic Society, the antiwar activist group that was formed on the Michigan campus, said Todd Gitlin, a former president of the S.D.S. who has written extensively about the 1960s.

“They had a kind of intellectual heft the undergraduates and graduates didn’t have,” said Professor Gitlin, who teaches at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and who took Professor Gamson’s political sociology class. “And they were on the left but were not associated with left-wing groups, so they had a refreshing independence.”

Professor Gamson said his activism, including participating in a hunger strike against military research on the Michigan campus, was inspired in part by Horace Mann’s exhortation “Be ashamed to die until you’ve won some victory for humanity.”

William Anthony Gamson was born on Jan. 27, 1934, in Philadelphia to Edward and Blanche (Weintraub) Gamson. His mother was an actress before becoming a homemaker; his father owned a company that manufactured women’s coats and suits.

Bill was influenced early on by his father’s interest in progressive causes like utopian communities. He also developed an early passion for games, making one up when he contracted scarlet fever at age 6 or 7 and was homebound for six months, and organizing a baseball team with his stuffed animals. “He had them swing at marbles with a pencil bat and he kept their statistics,” his wife, Zelda Gamson, told ESPN the Magazine. “Maybe he found that games will save you.”

After graduating from Antioch College in Ohio in 1955 with a bachelor’s degree in political science and government, he earned a master’s and Ph.D in sociology at the University of Michigan. His thesis was about coalition formation.

Soon after arriving at Michigan, he began creating immersive classroom simulation games, like Simulated Society, in which students dealt with real-world issues of conflict, inequality, injustice and social order and sought solutions as a group.

“If the society is to be a valuable learning experience, we will need your cooperation,” Professor Gamson wrote in his book, “SIMSOC: Simulated Society, Participant’s Manual” (2000, with Larry Peppers). “Cooperation in this context means taking your objectives in the society seriously. We have tried to create a situation in which each of you has goals that depend on other people in the society for their achievement.”

He left Michigan in 1982 for Boston College, where he and Charlotte Ryan co-founded the Media Research and Action Project. The project helped unions, movements and grass-roots community groups better craft their message to the news media.

Professor Gamson was a past president of the American Sociological Association and a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1978. He retired from teaching in 2000 but remained with the media project until 2017.

In addition to his son and wife, who taught sociology at the University of Michigan and the University of Massachusetts, Boston, he is survived by his daughter, Jenny Gamson; five grandchildren; and his sister, Mary Edda Gamson.

Professor Gamson’s interest in social movements never waned. In 2013, he and Micah Sifry, a writer and family friend, edited an issue of The Sociological Quarterly about the Occupy movement.

“He connected it to a movement that had blown up in Israel around the same time, a youth rebellion against economic frustrations with encampments in major cities,” Mr. Sifry said.

“His work was about how people organized themselves,” he continued, “but what he added to the mix was an awareness of the problems that come when movements don’t have leaders, like Occupy, or a formal structure for making decisions.”

Richard Sandomir is an obituaries writer. He previously wrote about sports media and sports business. He is also the author of several books, including “The Pride of the Yankees: Lou Gehrig, Gary Cooper and the Making of a Classic.” @RichSandomir

 

Leonard Casper

Leonard Ralph Casper passed away in his sleep on his 95th birthday, July 6. He was born in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin to Louis Casper and Caroline Eder. He had three brothers and four sisters. Louis; Rose; Ruth; Leo; Larry; Rita; and Roma.

He married Linda Ty-Casper at San Juan Rizal, Philippines on July 14, 1956. They have two daughters, Gretchen G. Casper, professor of Political Science at Pennsylvania State University; and Kristina Elise Casper-Denman,  Professor of Anthropology at American River College, Sacramento. 

Len was inducted into the US Military during World War II; and saw active service starting May 26, 1943; serving in foreign service 4 months, 6 days; in Continental Service, 2 years, 4 months, 11 days. His specialty was Cannoneer, # 864. He was qualified as a Marksman Carbine June 13, 1944; was Grade Pfc. Army serial # 36 821 365.Organization: Battery A 389 the FA Battalion; 99th Infantry Division, 38th Field Artillery Regiment as Marksman, Cannoneer 864.

His battle campaigns included the Rhineland, Central Europe; Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Ruhr Valley. His decorations and citations were the World War II Victory Ribbon, American Theater Ribbon, EAME Theater Ribbon, Good Conduct Ribbon, 2 Bronze Stars. He was received his Honorable Discharge, 2/12/46 at Camp Chafee, Arkansas. 

Leonard with three brothers—Louis, Leo and Larry—and a sister, Rita, served in the US Army during World War II. Larry received the Purple Heart.

Len attended grade school at the St, Joseph Church, Fond du Lac High School; and received his BA, MA and PhD from the University of Wisconsin where he was a graduate assistant.

He taught at Cornell University, University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University, Philippine Normal College, was lecturer at several colleges in the Philippines, in Taiwan and in Thailand on grants from the American Philosophical Society, the Ford Foundation, ACLS-SSRC, Asia Society. 

He was a Creative writing Fellow at Stanford, 1951; directed the Creative Writing Program at the University of Rhode Island, summer of 1958; Writing Fellow at Bread Loaf, 1961; a Fellow of the Rockefeller Foundation at Bellagio, 1994. He served on the editorial board of several literary magazines such as Literature East and West.

In 1956 he began teaching Contemporary American Literature and Creative Writing at Boston College; and in 1962 received the “Heights” Man of the Year Award in “recognition of his loyalty and service to the University and to its Young men.” After retirement in 1999, Len continued teaching at Boston College as Emeritus Professor; later teaching at the SOAR Federal Program—Seniors teaching Seniors—in Wellesley, MA.

Several of Lens creative writing students became published writers, poets, and editors, including George Higgins, whose first novel was The Friends of Eddie Coyle; Gemino Abad who dedicated his latest anthology, Philippine short Fiction in English from 1990-2008, to Leonard and three other of his professors; Michael J. Brien, editor, Amoskeag.

He wrote critical essays in his field which included American and Philippine literature. In 1966, his book on Robert Penn Warren, The Dark and Bloody Ground, the first on the author, was published by the University of Washington Press; his last book on Robert Penn Warren, The Blood Marriage of Earth and Sky, was published in 1997 by Louisiana State University Press.

Among his books are: Six Filipino Poets (1955), Wayward Horizon (1961) The Wounded Diamond (1964), New Writing from the Philippines (1966)Firewalker (1987), In Burning Bush (1991), The Opposing Thumb (1995) Sunsurfers Seen from Afar(1996) The Circular Firing Squad (1999) Green Circuits of the Sun (2002). With Thomas A. Gullason, he co-authored a textbook The World of Short Fiction: International Collection, Harper and Row, (1952).

While training for service and during active service in the US Army, his short stories were published in SouthWest Review of the Southern Methodist University, Texas; whose editors encouraged him to continue submitting his stories. In 1971 the Southern Methodist University Press published these short stories in a book, A Lion Unannounced, a National Council of the Arts Selection.

Len was a daily communicant at St. Jeremiah, Framingham until the church closed after 48 years. He was a communicant at St. George in Saxonville; and at the Sons of Mary Health of the Sick Missionaries, Framingham. 

 

Severyn Bruyn

Severyn T. Bruyn, a longtime member of the Sociology Department, died on May 26 at the age of 91. Credited with founding the participatory observation approach to sociological research, Dr. Bruyn authored 10 books and inspired the innovative Leadership for Change program at Boston College. A researcher and teacher in the fields of social economy and cultural studies, Dr. Bruyn began teaching at BC in 1966 and retired in 2001. His book A Future for the American Economy won a top prize in the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities 1991 Alpha Sigma Nu Book Award Competition.

Mary Griffin

Mary D. Griffin, 95, daughter of the late George J. Griffin and Agnes (Daugherty), sister of the late William, and widow of the late John A. Schmitt, died on May 23, 2019.

Born and raised in Chicago, she earned a bachelor’s degree from Mundelein College and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. 

For 25 years she was a Sister of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and later served for many years as Associate Professor and, ultimately, Dean of that university’s Lynch School of Education at Boston College.

 

Demetrius Iatridis

Retired Boston College School of Social Work faculty member Demetrius Iatridis, who survived a war-scarred youth and became an advocate for cooperation and compassion to aid those in need, died on June 25. He was 93.

Dr. Iatridis was widely acknowledged as an esteemed researcher and teacher in social policy and social welfare, and hailed as a pioneer in bringing an international context to social work—particularly for his study of former communist nations’ efforts to build social services systems in a market economy.

As chair of the Community Organization, Planning and Policy Administration concentration, he founded BC School of Social Work’s “Boston Day” event at the Boston Redevelopment Authority, which gave students the opportunity to form ties with city authorities and neighborhood leaders—an important resource for prospective social workers, he believed.

“He’s always been concerned with those people who are disadvantaged, who have fallen behind,” said Barry Bluestone, a former BC faculty member, when Dr. Iatridis retired in the fall of 2012.  “In the best Jesuit tradition, Demetrius has kept his focus on helping those whom society tends to neglect, and he’s always reminded his students of the importance of doing that. That’s why so many of us respect him so much.”

Dr. Iatridis’ life path, and his personal and professional ideals, were formed in the crucible of World War II. He was only 16 when the Nazis invaded and occupied his native Greece. On his own, he escaped to the island of Crete, but found it no safer there, and was forced to hide in the mountains until he was able to flee by boat to Egypt. Lying about his age, he joined the Greek air force and served as a tail-gunner. During the war, he lost his mother and grandmother.

For Dr. Iatridis, the war changed everything. Where once he had aspired to go into aeronautical engineering—he had earned a scholarship to Stanford University—now he sought something else.

“I decided that the world would not be built by aircraft engineers but by mutual aid, collaborative programs to prevent other wars,” he explained in an interview with the Boston College Chronicle upon his retirement. “Instead of seeing the powerful always defeating and dominating the powerless, I wanted to help the powerless become powerful. This became my goal.”

After the war, Dr. Iatridis aided United Nations’ efforts to help children in his country affected by the conflict, and the U.N. sent him to the U.S. to observe its social welfare system. He went on to earn degrees from Washington and Jefferson College, the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work and the Bryn Mawr School of Social Work, then returned to Greece for a while to help assist in establishing a graduate school of planning.

He arrived at BC in 1966 as director of its new Institute of Human Sciences, founded by then-University President Michael Walsh, S.J., who envisioned a hub of teaching and research dedicated to social sciences as a potential strength for BC, much like engineering or architectural studies was for MIT. Dr. Iatridis was given a joint appointment in the School of Social Work. After six years, the institute was viewed as having achieved its goals and was disbanded, said Dr. Iatridis, and he became a full-time faculty member in the school.

While he acknowledged being “skeptical” about BC at first, and uncertain whether his beliefs aligned with those of Jesuits, Dr. Iatridis told the Chronicle he had found BC a “very good fit. I was able do things I might not have had an opportunity to do otherwise.”

He taught classes comparing social policy in capitalist and communist societies, led students on visits to Cuba so they could draw their own conclusions, and invited Cuban social services experts to speak at BC. Some critics thought these practices amounted to an endorsement of communism, but Dr. Iatridis insisted otherwise.

“My point was, ‘What can we learn from the way these countries practice social policy? Nobody, as far as we knew, was looking into this. The students would decide for themselves what was effective and what wasn’t, and they would have to account for and justify their positions. There was nothing ideological about it.”

During one visit to Cuba, Dr. Iatridis met with Fidel Castro, who asked if social work was an appropriate profession for the country.  “I said, ‘It depends. If you want to increase participation of people in decision-making, it’s your best model. It does not work well in dictatorships,’” recounted Dr. Iatridis. “A few years later, he established social work as a profession in Cuba.”

The dramatic end of communist rule in Europe and Russia at the end of the 20th century created a new area of exploration for Dr. Iatridis. He organized several major conferences to examine the challenges faced by former Soviet Bloc nations in building social service systems in a market economy, and co-published an accompanying series of books.

“This was a tremendous opportunity to put social work in the forefront of a major world development,” he said. “The conferences and the books were very well-received. It was very good exposure for the School of Social Work and BC.”

Dr. Iatridis served on several University committees, and chaired the Faculty Compensation Committee for 15 of the 27 years he was a member. In 2000, he was presented with a Distinguished Service Award from the University.

Fittingly, Dr. Iatridis’ career was celebrated in November of 2012 with a panel discussion—in which he was a participant—on the issues of policy, planning, and poverty that had informed his teaching and research. Former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis presented a keynote address at the event.

As he contemplated retirement, Dr. Iatridis vowed to remain active by volunteering for programs and projects combatting poverty—a subject virtually absent from the 2012 election campaign, he said.

“The poverty and inequality I saw after World War II was the reason I went into social work,” he said, “and I am going to continue to help the powerless.”

 Dr. Iatridis and his wife Mary, who died in 2015, are survived by their children Anna, Tanya, Stavros, and Maki, and 13 grandchildren. 

—University Communications

Jim Gips

James Gips, an award-winning Boston College computer scientist whose work in assistive technology has helped people with disabilities live fuller lives, died on June 10. He was 72.

Dr. Gips, the John R. and Pamela Egan Professor of Computer Science in the Carroll School of Management, was the co-inventor and co-developer of two groundbreaking assistive technologies, EagleEyes and Camera Mouse, which enable users to operate computers through eye or head movements. The systems have been used by people with cerebral palsy, spinal muscular atrophy, traumatic brain injury and other disorders.

“Before EagleEyes, these children were totally trapped inside their bodies,” Dr. Gips told the Boston College Chronicle in 1996, two years after formally unveiling EagleEyes. “While they may be bright and eager to communicate, they had no way to express themselves. Once EagleEyes is in their homes, there’s no telling where it will lead them.”

In creating EagleEyes and Camera Mouse, Dr. Gips – along with his collaborators, Peter Olivieri and Joseph Tecce – set the stage for a multitude of inspiring stories of families with children suffering from severe disabilities whose lives were changed by the technology. Testimonials were often delivered through print, broadcast and other media, but many came directly to Dr. Gips and his colleagues.

One correspondent wrote about EagleEyes’ impact on his five-year-old grandson Adam: “Yesterday I watched him play a computer game that made the monkeys jump on the bed while whimsical music played. Adam giggled then, miracle of miracles, Adam made it play again and then again! What kind of miracle is that you might ask. It’s the most remarkable kind if your grandson has quadriplegic cerebral palsy. Adam cannot speak, sit up, crawl, walk or roll over and is fed with a tube in his tummy.

“But when Adam started using EagleEyes the world changed for him and those who love him. When Adam’s eyes dwell on a graphic icon it ‘clicks’ like a mouse. I call it the click heard around the world.”

Olivieri, a Carroll School associate professor for information systems who retired in 2011, mourned the passing of his longtime friend and colleague. “Jim was a wonderful person, kind and compassionate, bright and articulate, who loved his family, his students and his friends.  He always asked his students to think about how they could make a difference, and how their knowledge could make the world a better place.

“He himself practiced what he asked his students to do as evidenced by his development of award-winning technology to help people with profound disabilities show their humanity and become fully recognized as fellow human beings.  His research changed the lives of hundreds and hundreds of boys and girls, men and women, and his teaching impacted thousands of Boston College students. I will miss him more than words can say.”

Added Tecce, an associate professor of psychology, “Jim was a friend and special colleague. He did an outstanding job of putting into the public domain our discovery of a method to help special needs individuals. It was a privilege and an honor to have him as a co-author on my professional presentations. I will always be grateful for his professionalism.”

Dr. Gips had already made an impact in the computer science field before joining the BC faculty in 1976, through his foundational work with George Stiny on shape grammars, a specific class of production systems that generate geometric shapes as a means to study two and three-dimensional languages. In 1980, Dr. Gips – who in addition to the Carroll School  Information Systems Department held a joint appointment with the Computer Science Department in the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences – was one of two BC faculty members (along with historian Samuel Miller) to win the inaugural Alpha Sigma Nu National Book Awards for Algorithmic Aesthetics, which he authored with Stiny.

The inspiration for EagleEyes came from a casual discussion in 1992 between Dr. Gips and Olivieri, in which they talked about the possibility of controlling computers through the mind. Exploring the idea further, the two reached out to Tecce, who suggested EOG, or electrooculography, which can track eye movements by detecting electrical signals in the eye; electrodes placed around the eyes detect those signals. The three figured out a way of amplifying the signals and converting them to corresponding movements of a cursor.

Working on that basis, the trio created a prototype that enabled the user to play video games on the computer through eye movement. After Dr. Gips presented their device at a scientific conference, he was asked about its potential uses. He mused that it might help children with disabilities, although he and his collaborators hadn’t yet investigated such a possibility.

Dr. Gips, Olivieri and Tecce tested the device, dubbed “EagleEyes,” by using it with students at the BC Campus School, which serves children with multiple disabilities. Over time, they added refinements that enabled users to spell out words, create music and “eye-paint” – make colors appear on the computer screen – among other functions.

In 1994, EagleEyes was chosen as one of five finalists for a prestigious Discover Award for Technological Innovation, sponsored by Discover magazine.

The trio sought to duplicate the EagleEyes system to make it available outside of BC, such as for collaborative schools and families. It was increasingly difficult to keep up with the demand, but Dr. Gips couldn’t find investors willing to back the project until the nonprofit Opportunity Foundation of America (OFOA) expressed interest.

In 2004, OFOA signed a licensing agreement with BC to provide manufacturing, distribution and training for EagleEyes. During the first decade of the license, OFOA placed more than 280 EagleEyes systems in the US, Canada and Ireland.

Three years later, Dr. Gips won a da Vinci Award "honoring exceptional design and engineering achievements in accessibility and universal design, that empowers people of all abilities."

By then, Dr. Gips and his team had begun producing Camera Mouse, which they made available for download in June of 2007. Some 3.3 million downloads were recorded in its first decade.

“Bless you all for this precious gift to so many who lost their voice,” wrote the father of an ALS patient who used Camera Mouse. “I love you all!!!!"

On his personal website, Dr. Gips noted that BC undergraduates were involved in all phases of the work on EagleEyes and Camera Mouse, and had co-authored and presented papers. Many students “begin not by developing technologies but rather by working directly with the children who will use the technologies.”

Dr. Gips’ more recent research activity was to examine aspects of the effects of technology and new media on consumer behavior and psychology, in collaboration with Carroll School Associate Professor of Marketing S. Adam Brasel. The two formed the Marketing Interfaces Lab at BC.  

In 2015, Dr. Gips received teaching honors from both the Carroll School Honors Program and the BC chapter of Alpha Sigma Nu, the national Jesuit honor society.

Prior to joining Boston College, Dr. Gips worked at the Department of Biomathematics at the University of California-Los Angeles and at the Psychophysiology Laboratory at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda.

Dr. Gips earned a bachelor’s degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his master’s and doctoral degrees from Stanford University.

He is survived by his wife Barbara; children Amy and Jonathan; his sister Kathy; and a grandson.

Sean Smith | University Communications | June 2018

Richard Cobb-Stevens

Professor Emeritus Richard Cobb-Stevens, a widely praised phenomenology scholar who chaired the Philosophy Department for nine years and played a leadership role in the revision of Boston College’s core curriculum during the early 1990s, died on July 6. He was 83.

Dr. Cobb-Stevens spent nearly four decades on the faculty, but his ties to the University pre-dated his 1971 appointment as an assistant professor of philosophy: He earned his bachelor’s degree in 1958 and his master’s degree a year later from BC as part of his training for the Society of Jesus. Although he would later leave the order, Dr. Cobb-Stevens acquired a solid academic and formational background well-suited to teach philosophy at a university steeped in the Jesuit, Catholic tradition.

Also foundational were his studies at the College St. Albert du Louvain in Belgium, where he received his licentiate in theology in 1966, and as a doctoral student at the University of Paris, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1971. During his years in Paris, he was witness to the historic 1968 student unrest, met Jean-Paul Sartre, and spent summers as a relief chaplain at a parish drop-in center and a U.S. Air Force base in Germany.

His work in phenomenological philosophy, analytic philosophy, and the history of philosophy helped inspire generations of philosophers involved in those fields of research. Foremost among his writings were his books James and Husserl: The Foundations of Meaning—a study in contrasts of phenomenology founder Edmund Husserl and pragmatist/functionalist William James—and Husserl and Analytic Philosophy, which traced the break between phenomenology and analytic philosophy, two key philosophic movements of the 20th century.

In a 1990 interview with the Boston College Biweekly, Dr. Cobb-Stevens said that, while he believed Husserl’s phenomenology method was more successful than the analytic method of Gottlob Frege—who founded the analytic movement—he had published Husserl and Analytic Philosophy with the hope of contributing to “renewed dialogue” between the two schools of thought: “[Husserl and Frege] both shared the conviction that we can achieve some degree of objective truth, even though our access to truth is always perspectival and historically conditioned.”

In 2015, a volume of essays in honor of Dr. Cobb-Stevens, Phenomenology in a New Key, was published, featuring contributions from several leading experts in phenomenological philosophy from North America and Europe.  

“Dick will be most remembered for his essential humanness,” said Professor of Philosophy Patrick Byrne. “He was warm and welcoming to everyone he met, and let you know that he cared about you as an individual. He had a special gift for calming tensions in meetings, which is no small accomplishment in a university setting. Dick had a great sense of humor and was a storyteller of a special kind: He could let himself disappear as he drew people together by drawing them into the story.”

Dr. Cobb-Stevens’ colleague Professor Eileen Sweeney, speaking at his retirement lecture in 2009, praised Husserl and Analytic Philosophy as an example of his ability to engage with and transcend such divisions.  “It is on that cusp that Richard’s philosophical work has dwelt, eschewing both the reductionism and scientism, on the one hand, as well as any premature retreat into mysticism or poetry, on the other.  I wouldn’t say that Richard’s thought has come to rest in some easy synthesis or middle ground but is rather engaged in an ongoing dynamic dialectic.”

His achievements as a researcher and writer did not overshadow his abilities as a teacher and mentor, added Sweeney, noting that for more than 30 years Dr. Cobb-Stevens ran the Philosophy Department’s teaching seminar for doctoral students, and had directed 27 doctoral dissertations. Students, she said, valued his ability to allow them to develop their own thought but to subject it to rigorous testing and critique.

His lectures had “the same combination of style and clarity as does his writing,” said Sweeney at the 2009 event. “He can always be counted on for the anecdote students will remember for years to come that epitomizes a problem or issue in the material he is teaching.  He is always willing to share a story that shows his own difficulties and puzzlement in dealing with a problem or dilemma, one which exposes his own humanity with a humility which students find it possible to emulate.  He is willing to work through an issue with students in genuine collaboration, knowing and enacting the role of philosopher as lover rather than possessor of wisdom.”

Dr. Cobb-Stevens’ colleagues also recalled him as “a citizen of the University” who took on tasks and assignments that contributed to the greater good of his department—as chairman from 1993-2002, he helped bring international recognition to BC’s graduate programs in philosophy while increasing the number of philosophy undergraduate majors to among the largest in the U.S.—and Boston College as a whole: He was a member of the University Policy Committee and the University Academic Planning Council, among other bodies.

“Even though he was an internationally renowned scholar in philosophy,” said Byrne, “Dick devoted most of his time to making Boston College an ever-better place for undergraduate and graduate students to spend their formative years.”

In 1991, Dr. Cobb-Stevens was appointed as the inaugural director of the University Core Development Committee (UCDC), created to oversee and manage the undergraduate core curriculum, which had recently undergone its most extensive revision since its introduction in 1971. Among the changes were a requirement for students to take at least one course in fine arts, literature, mathematics, and cultural diversity, and that core courses share a set of common characteristics including discussion of perennial questions; history and methodology of the discipline; culturally diverse perspectives, and a concern for the moral significance and practical direction of students’ lives.

Dr. Cobb-Stevens went on to serve for 18 years as director of the UCDC as it performed the critical minutiae—assessment, evaluation, refinement, and advising—associated with administering the University’s signature undergraduate course sequences. Dr. Cobb-Stevens also was instrumental in helping the UCDC secure major grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and National Science Foundation to develop new core courses designed to integrate themes from the humanities and sciences.

A milestone came in 1997, when the first Boston College class to study under the revised core graduated. Interviewed by the Boston College Chronicle, Dr. Cobb-Stevens reflected on the success of the initiative: “Students we’ve talked to say that without the core, they would have followed a narrow path of study without encountering new disciplines and outlooks. Their reaction to, and experience with, the core has been quite positive.” He added that faculty members across disciplines also had been inspired to work on core-related initiatives.  

“There is still much that can be done,” he said. “But looking at the particular structure we have here, and the degree of cooperation experienced between the UCDC and departments, I can’t think of anything quite like it at any comparable institution. We have made a very good beginning.”

“My memory of Richard Cobb-Stevens is that he was unfailingly kind and concerned for the welfare of everyone he met, and deeply committed to humanistic education in the Catholic and Jesuit traditions,” said Fitzgibbon Professor of Philosophy Arthur Madigan, S.J., who succeeded Dr. Cobb-Stevens as UCDC director in 2009. “Someone once told me that receiving the answer ‘No’ from Richard Cobb-Stevens was more satisfying than receiving the answer ‘Yes’ from any number of other people.”

Dr. Cobb-Stevens taught such courses as Machiavelli and Hobbes, Frege and Wittgenstein, American Pragmatism, and 19th- and 20th-Century Philosophy, as well as Modernism and the Arts and New Scientific Visions through the Perspectives Program.

He served on the editorial boards of Phenomenological Inquiry and the Center for Advanced Research in Phenomenology, among other publications, and was a member of such organizations as the American Philosophical Association, Metaphysical Society of America, Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy, and American Catholic Philosophical Association.

Dr. Cobb-Stevens’ wife, Veda Cobb, whom he married in 1979 (both took Cobb-Stevens as their last names), died in 1989. He is survived by his sister Helen Ahearn and brothers Robert, Thomas, and John Stevens; he was predeceased by his sisters Mary A. Cullinane, Grace A. Vinciguerra, and Judith E. Erler and brother Francis Stevens. 

—Sean Smith |University Communication—Sean Smith |University Communication

 

Holmstrom, Lynda (d. 2021)

Lynda Lytle Holmstrom, Professor Emerita of Sociology at Boston College, died suddenly on February 6, 2021 at age 81. She was born in Seattle and graduated as Valedictorian from Garfield High School in 1957. She attended Stanford University and earned her BA in Anthropology in 1961. She married her husband Ross, a Doctoral student in Electrical Engineering at Stanford, and then took her first academic job, as an editorial assistant to two Stanford Sociology professors who were writing a book. Her experience working for them piqued her interest in Sociology.

Ross, having finished his Doctoral work at Stanford, obtained a position with NASA in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and they moved to Boston in September 1964. Lynda, on the strength of her record at Stanford, including election to Phi Beta Kappa, immediately received admission to Boston University's Master's Degree program in Sociology. She earned her MA in one year and in 1965 entered Brandeis University's Doctoral program in Sociology.

By 1969 her Doctoral thesis was largely complete and she accepted a position as Instructor in the Boston College (not Boston University) Sociology Department. She became an Assistant Professor when her Ph.D. was granted. Lynda's thesis became the book, The Two Career Family. This book, based on in-depth interviews of couples in two-career marriages, might be looked upon as a how-to-do-it guide.

Lynda went up through the ranks at BC including a stretch as Sociology Department chairperson. Her two favorite courses to teach were Marriage & Family, from her liberated perspective, and Legal and Illegal Violence Against Women. She chose research topics according to what interested her, studies that resulted in The Victim of Rape: Institutional Reactions, written with Ann Wolbert Burgess; and Mixed Blessings: Intensive Care for Newborns, written with Jeanne Harley Guillemin.

Lynda was a skier, hiker and traveler. She climbed Mount St. Helens with the Mountaineers, before it blew up. Winters often included a week's ski trip to the Rockies. She toured Europe with her family from the North Cape to the Peloponnese, the British Isles, Morocco and Latin America.

Lynda is survived by her husband Ross, also from Seattle, sons Bret and Cary, grandchildren Cheyenne, Jayden, Imogen and Machaias and Washington State cousins Lois Stanford, John Marckworth, and Peg Marckworth. Cause of death was a cerebral hemorrhage.

 

Sarah Cimino

Age 84, of Carnegie, passed away Sunday, December 24, 2017, after a brief battle with cancer.

Daughter of the late Enrico "Henry" and Leona (Cardamone) Cimino. She was always generous and kind, always willing to help anyone. She was always recognized for her caring and her leadership qualities.

Sarah was a Registered Nurse, dedicated to her profession 100 percent and always looking to improve the system to achieve better patient care. It was natural for her that after graduating Schenley High School she continued her education in the caring services, graduating from Saint Francis Hospital School of Nursing, then UCLA for a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, then on to Boston College School of Nursing for 30 years where she also chaired Committees that contributed to nursing progress.

She will also be remembered as a Peace Corps participant in Malaysia where she taught and implemented new, safer procedures in patient care in a different culture. Sarah considered that experience personally and professionally enriching.

After 30 years, she retired from Boston College and spent three years taking care of retired priests of the Boston Diocese in a local nursing home. After that time, Sarah returned home to Pittsburgh, residing close to her family and looked after her mother who lived for 103 years. She was preceded in death by her parents, Leona Cardamone Cimino and Henry Cimino, and her brother, Thomas Cimino. She will be missed by her sister Mary Theresa (Whitey) Burkart, and many nieces, nephews, friends and colleagues. 

Published in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from Dec. 27 to Dec. 28, 2017

John Heineman

Dr. Heineman, who taught at Boston College for 40 years, chaired the History Department from 1970-76 and pursued research in modern Germany (1803-present) and the Third Reich, as well as the history of warfare, the intellectual history of western Europe and religious and Church history. 

But he was particularly interested in the Nazi era: He taught a course, Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich, using a large collection of mostly unpublished primary source documents he had translated. These documents, which he later put online, included material on the Nazi seizure of power and the treatment of Jews during the Third Reich.

Interviewed by The Heights shortly before he retired in 2003, Dr. Heineman said he became fascinated with German history somewhat unexpectedly while an undergraduate at the University of Notre Dame when he took a trip to Europe – a journey made possible by a $500 bequest from his great aunt, who stipulated he use it for travel.

Signing up for a Catholic student tour, Dr. Heineman visited Ireland and England with great anticipation, but came away “faintly disappointed.” Arriving in Germany, however, was “an almost mystical experience” that deepened in the days he spent there. 

“I came back absolutely convinced I wanted to be a German historian,” he recalled.

After earning his degree from Notre Dame, Dr. Heineman went to Germany on a Fulbright grant and later received a full scholarship to study German history at Cornell University. Searching for a dissertation topic, Dr. Heineman was drawn to the story of Constantin Von Neurath, who had served as foreign secretary during the last years of the Weimar Republic and stayed on after Adolf Hitler came to power. He did extensive research on Neurath and later published a comprehensive biography, Hitler's First Foreign Minister: Constantin Freiherr von Neurath.

To Dr. Heineman, Neurath was an all-too-common example of “decent and honorable men” who served “the evil that was National Socialism.” The fact that Germany’s pre-World War II foreign policy did not change following the ascension of the Nazis was because Neurath and other professional diplomats who, although not party members, continued to run the Foreign Office, he said. 

“Born for another century, relying with too much trust upon an outmoded code of doing one’s duty,” wrote Dr. Heineman, “Neurath never successfully defined the nature of the challenge that faced him.”

Dr. Heineman was wary of drawing historical comparisons with current events. Asked by The Heights in 2003 about the parallels between Saddam Hussein and Adolf Hitler, he replied that using “historical analogies and similes for similar situations while you are teaching history is to create a distortion of the past.”

“The circumstances that brought Hitler to power in the 1920s and ’30s are not the same ones that brought to power Saddam Hussein,” he added. “The chief function of a historian is to recreate history the way it actually was, and that is without the hindsight of the future.”

In 1997, Dr. Heineman was selected for a teaching award from the Boston College Phi Beta Kappa chapter. In an interview with Boston College Chronicle, he said he relished the honor because it had been given by students in recognition of his teaching – his “greatest love,” he called it.

"I'm very much aware that my function up there is to inform, partially to entertain, partially to inspire," he said, "but also to give them a model of analysis of how a reasonably intelligent person can look at data and make sense of it." 

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Mary Dineen

Mary A. Dineen, who served as dean of the Boston College School of Nursing from 1972 until her retirement in 1986, died March 4, 2017 at age 94.

"I remember Dean Dineen as someone who loved Boston College and who was a formidable leader," said Connell School of Nursing Associate Professor Jane Ashley, who was hired by Dr. Dineen. "I'll always remember that she said to me, "At BC, we only hire the best and the brightest"...her comment always stayed with me and in many ways it set the bar for what was expected of nursing faculty."

During her tenure, the Boston College School of Nursing became recognized nationally for its excellence in preparing students for the nursing profession. Then-University President J. Donald Monan, S.J., praised Dr. Dineen for her "valuable and necessary leadership" during this period of time.

She had the vision to see that nurses were taking on more responsibility in the areas of health promotion and illness prevention, and that the advent of nurse practitioners would forever change the practice and education of nurses.

"Dean Dineen was one of the early leaders in nursing," said Ashley. "She got her Ph.D. at at time when very few nurses had advanced degrees and she set the stage for the development of the Ph.D. program in nursing at Boston College.  Under her guidance, CSON strengthened the master's programs and began work on the PhD program. This happened at a time when very few universities offered a PhD in nursing. In many ways, Dean Dineen was ahead of her time."

On the cusp of her retirement, Dr. Dineen told the Boston College Biweekly (precursor to the Boston College Chronicle): "I see nursing as a wonderful field for those who want to be in a helping field. I can't imagine anyone not liking it."

She added: "It has been a satisfying career, and I think I made the right choices. It has been a continual challenge. And I like challenges."

Dr. Dineen was born in Niagara Falls, NY. She completed her basic nursing education at Mt. St. Mary's Hospital School of Nursing. Following receipt of her RN License, she worked as a staff nurse at St. Mary's Hospital and in St. Louis, Missouri.

She graduated from St. Louis University with a bachelor's degree in nursing and later earned a master's degree from Niagara University and a doctoral degree from Columbia University.

She was one of the first faculty members appointed to Niagara University when the College of Nursing was founded in 1946. In 1963, Dr. Dineen joined the staff of the National League for Nursing in New York City, working as a consultant and department director with university-based nursing education programs throughout the country.

Dr. Dineen was active in many professional organizations, including the American Nurses Association, the National League for Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau and Alpha Sigma Nu. She was honored with the Nursing Education Alumni Award from Teachers College, Columbia and the Mary Adelaide Nutting Award from the National League for Nursing.

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Peter Donovan

rofessor Emeritus Peter Donovan ’60, a brilliant, tough-minded teddy bear of a guy whom students affectionately called “The Big Man,” passed away February 25. A Double Eagle, he taught at BC Law for thirty-six years until his retirement in 2002, winning the hearts and shaping the minds of hundreds of still-devoted students.

“Peter was an authentic. Not a phony facet to him,” said one of those students, Peter del Vecchio ’81, who helped organize a tribute to Donovan at the 2016 Reunion. “He presented a gruff exterior, but had nothing but pure love and respect for his students. He was also a lot of fun.”

Indeed, Donovan got a huge kick out of the roasting he received at the event from members of the Class of 1981. After the singing and storytelling, his admirers presented to him and his wife Eleanor a glass portrait of Donovan and a pair of signed bowling pins. “I want to thank his lovely wife Eleanor for sharing Peter with us,” del Vecchio said upon learning of his passing.

A specialist in products liability and antitrust law, Donovan was also a central figure in building BC Law’s oral advocacy programs, serving as faculty advisor for the two-time national champion moot court team and mentoring generations of students in competitions. He was coauthor of Massachusetts Corporation Law.

BC Law Professor Robert Bloom ’71, who was both a student and colleague of Donovan, remembered him as not only a great teacher but also as a lawyer’s lawyer. “His lawyering was absolutely the best; attorneys from all over would come to him for his lawyering,” Bloom said.

In 1989, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court took up the case of Harlow v. Massachusetts General Hospital, an appeal from what at the time was the largest medical malpractice verdict in the Commonwealth. Trial lawyer Fred Halstrom ’70, one of BC Law’s most distinguished graduates, reached out to his former professor Peter Donovan to handle the very challenging appeal brought by the hospital, focusing in large part on plaintiff’s closing argument, which invoked analogies to professional athlete salaries as a guide to the jury’s assessment of damages. Donovan asked faculty colleague Mark Brodin to assist him, who was flattered and honored by the request. Throughout the long strategy sessions on the appellate brief and argument, Brodin became more and more aware that he was in the presence of one of the great legal minds he had ever encountered.

The proof of this came when the SJC ruled that, while the argument by plaintiff’s counsel was “egregious and improper under long established, and well understood, principles,” reversal was not called for. Donovan had pulled the proverbial rabbit out of the hat, yet again. Brodin has remained in awe of Donovan’s legal process ever since.

Donovan’s classrooms could be scary places. In his early years on the faculty, he was the only one teaching corporations. The class was so big that students had to sit on the windowsills because there weren’t enough seats.

Bloom remembers his corporations class, which he took in the second semester of his third year. “Professor Donovan would call on me every day (you’re not supposed to do that to a third year student,” Bloom said bemusedly). He called me ‘Radical.’ ‘Radical,’ he’d bellow, ‘what does your sense of justice and fair play dictate on this issue?’ and I’d have to answer and have to be prepared. I hated him. And then at my graduation, he told my mom what a wonderful guy I was, and she loved him and if my mom loved him, then, naturally, I had to too.”

Donovan, of course, knew exactly what he was doing. He had this to say about his torts class during an interview with BC Law Magazine in 2001: “I consider myself a teddy bear that people like to hug. I’d obviously hide that part of my personality because in their first year, I want students to work harder than they’ve ever worked before, and if they’re afraid of you, they tend to work harder. So, maybe I do intimidate them, but we also have a lot of humor in class.”

He cared greatly for his students and was fond of saying that there were only three reasons to teach: “students, students, students.”

Ann Palmieri ’81 said Donovan had a remarkable way of connecting with everyone. “He really did all he could for those that he knew needed his guidance and love and faith,” she noted. “I think of him as a giant Irishman with a giant brain and heart to match.”

Donovan’s contribution to BC Law that was closest to his heart was coaching moot court teams. “Working in the advocacy programs has been my most satisfying work at the Law School,” he said in 2001. “You work with the students one on one, you get to know them as individuals. It’s just a big, huge ego trip to see how hard they work and how well they perform from it.” His teams twice won national championships, were finalists twice, and chalked up an impressive list of regional championships and citations.

His love of oral advocacy was also personal. It was one of the things that turned around the young Donovan’s otherwise lackluster academic performance. A “C” student throughout high school and half of college, he got an inkling of his verbal powers of persuasion during his comprehensive oral exam in philosophy in which he turned the tables on his inquisitors by questioning the ambiguity of their questions, which earned him their respect.

In law school he sparred vigorously with Professor Richard S. Sullivan, which provided Donovan with another important insight. “I love to argue,” he realized. Thus challenged, he rose to third in his class his first year. The next two, he was first.

After graduating from BC Law, Donovan worked in the antitrust division of the US Department of Justice, and earned an LLM from Georgetown Law Center and another from Harvard Law School, where he’d been a Ford Foundation Fellow in Law Teaching. He began teaching at the Law School in 1966.

Eugene Bronstein

Eugene Bronstein, who followed an accomplished career in retail with a successful 22-year tenure at the Carroll School of Management, died earlier in the spring semester at the age of 92. Prof. Bronstein had spent 20 years at Filene’s department store in Boston – starting as a research assistant and finishing as a merchandising vice president – when he joined the Carroll School faculty in 1975 as a lecturer. He taught retailing, marketing, merchandising and management courses to undergraduate and MBA students.

In 1983, he became director of the school’s honors program, where he taught and mentored leading Carroll School students. During his 10 years at the helm, the program introduced a senior thesis, strengthened relationships with the College of Arts and Sciences, created a mentoring program with honors alumni and encouraged greater student management of the program.

Interviewed by the Heights near the end of his term as director, Prof. Bronstein said running the honors program had been a chance for him to “shape a small business,” and had enjoyed the increased contact with students. 

Prof. Bronstein said the advent of the senior thesis had reflected a desire to give Carroll School students a chance to “spread out” – to broaden their interests and use their creativity. Where in the past CSOM theses had been largely confined to business and management topics, he said that 75 percent now delved into other areas; one student, he noted, had put together an instructional video on golf.

“You have influenced my life and career more than you will ever know,” one student wrote to Prof. Bronstein.

While pleased with the program’s growth, Prof. Bronstein told the Heights that he had didn’t expect status quo under new leadership. “I would throw it on the wall and start brainstorming. that is the advantage of a new set of eyes. Take a fresh look.”

After retiring in 1997, Prof. Bronstein was a member of the Boston College Association of Retired Faculty. A native of Cambridge, Prof. Bronstein enlisted in the Navy in World War II and served in the South Paci!c, taking part in crucial battles such as Okinawa and Iwo Jima.

He earned a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

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Albert F. Hanwell

Albert F. Hanwell, an alumnus and retired longtime faculty member and associate dean at the Boston College School of Social Work, died on Oct. 3.

Dean Hanwell’s association with the Graduate School of Social Work – as it was then known – went back to its pre-Chestnut Hill days, when the school was housed at 126 Newbury Street in Boston. A 1949 BC graduate, he earned his master’s degree in social work at GSSW in 1952, then returned as a faculty member 10 years later, six years before the school moved to its present campus location.

After the appointment of June Gary Hopps as GSSW dean in 1976, Dean Hanwell took on more administrative responsibilities until he was appointed assistant dean in 1985, then associate dean in 1992. He, along with Hopps, retired in 2000.

Dean Hanwell was credited for working with Hopps to help GSSW become a modern, nationally recognized presence in the social work field. During the Hopps era, the school established a doctoral program – still a rarity at the time among social work schools – and innovative joint degree programs with the Carroll School of Management, Law School and Institute for Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry that promoted the interdisciplinary character of social work. GSSW joined U.S. News & World Report’s top 20 rankings of graduate social work programs, and its faculty ranked 10th in a national study on publication productivity.

In the spring of 2000, then-Academic Vice President and Dean of Faculties John J. Neuhauser praised the leadership of Hopps and Dean Hanwell: “What they have achieved is remarkable."

A World War II veteran who served in the Navy, Dean Hanwell was pre-deceased by his wife Ann. He is survived by his sons Neil – an accounting assistant for the University’s Auxiliary Services division – Kevin and John J. Hanwell, S.J., and his daughter Theresa.

Joseph Criscenti

A funeral Mass was celebrated in St. Bartholomew Church in Needham on Jan. 7, 2013 for Joseph T. Criscenti, a professor of Latin American history for 33 years who died on Jan. 3. He was 92.

A specialist in Argentine history, especially the formation of the Argentine Republic, Dr. Criscenti — who began teaching at BC in 1955, after receiving his doctorate in history from Harvard University — won the 1961 James Alexander Robertson Prize of the Conference on Latin American History for his article “Argentine Constitutional History, 1810-1852: A Re-examination,” published in the Hispanic American Historical Review. During his research trips to Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay, he acquired books that became part of the Boston College Libraries’ collection of Latin American materials.

Dr. Criscenti was a founder of the New England Council of Latin American Studies (NECLAS), and the secretary-treasurer for nearly 20 years. In honor of his efforts, NECLAS established the annual Joseph T. Criscenti Best Article Prize. 

Dr. Criscenti remained active in his field following his retirement in 1988, editing the 1993 book Sarmiento and His Argentina and serving as a contributing editor of the Handbook of Latin American Studies published by the Library of Congress. He also authored articles for the Encyclopedia of Latin America, among other publications, and wrote numerous book reviews.

Born in Detroit, Dr. Criscenti graduated from the University of Detroit in 1942. Inducted into the Army, he was assigned to the Adjutant General’s Section in General Douglas MacArthur’s headquarters in Manila. He was awarded the Bronze Star for reconstructing the historical record of changes in the army’s organization in the Philippines. As an Army reservist, Dr. Criscenti became the commander of a military history detachment assigned to the Office of Military History. He retired from the army in 1980 as a lieutenant colonel.

Kevin Duffy

A funeral Mass was held Dec. 8, 2012 in St. Ignatius Church, Chestnut Hill, for Kevin P. Duffy, who served for 24 years as Boston College’s vice president of student affairs during one of the University’s most transformative eras.

Dr. Duffy died on Dec. 4 of complications resulting from a fall. He was 70.

Dr. Duffy’s tenure as student affairs vice president from 1976-2000 coincided with significant changes to Boston College, from its physical plant to the make-up of its student body, as it became more of a national — and international — Catholic university.

This period also saw an increasing demand throughout higher education for greater attention to college students’ non-academic needs.

As vice president, Dr. Duffy helped develop many key services to meet such needs, among them the offices of University Housing, Dean for Student Development and AHANA Student Programs, as well as University Health and Medical Services, the Career Center, Counseling Services, First Year Experience, Learning Resources for Student Athletics, and Learning to Learn.



Interviewed by Boston College Chronicle shortly before stepping down from his vice presidency — he went on to serve as an assistant professor and director of internships in the Lynch School of Education Higher Education Graduate Program until his retirement in 2007 — Dr. Duffy reflected on how the changes at BC had affected his own role: Where his position had once been “more of a ‘dean of men,’” it had evolved “to a far more comprehensive administrative role."

He added, "Through it all, though, I think my chief role has stayed constant: to constantly remind people that students are our priority, and to help those students have the best experience possible here."



Dr. Duffy also was lauded for reviving one of Boston College’s most storied student organizations, the Fulton Debate Society, and upon his departure from Student Affairs the society chose him as the namesake for an award in debate excellence.

“Kevin always had a great understanding of, and an enthusiasm for, the role of Student Affairs in the lives of the students and in the University,” said Margaret Dwyer, former University vice president. “He was devoted to the Jesuit ideal of the education of the whole student. In that connection he was very active in the Conference of Jesuit Student Personnel Administrators, where he joined with colleagues across the country in identifying best practices and in seeking to meet new and changing needs of students.”

“Kevin lived the Ignatian mission,” said Director of Employee Development Bernard O’Kane ’70, who served under Dr. Duffy as administrative officer in the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs. “He believed deeply in student formation. His advocacy for students, especially those marginalized, was unwavering. At times, his positions placed him squarely in between the University administration and the students, but he always saw the issue through. He had unbridled generosity, with his time, resources and spirit. He was a mentor to me and to many younger administrators.  

“One of his favorite phrases was ‘University citizen,’ which referred to someone he admired at BC who took responsibility for things far beyond his or her role. Kevin was truly a University citizen.”



A New York City native and a graduate of Cathedral College with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, Dr. Duffy came to BC in 1968 as director of student services, and was housing director from 1970-76. He also held a master’s degree in counseling from Fordham University and a doctorate in higher education administration from BC.

Dr. Duffy also was a prominent national figure in the field of student affairs. He held such leadership positions as president of the Jesuit Association of Student Personnel Administrators (JASPA) and the Boston Association of College Housing Administrators, Region 1 vice president of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA), and co-director of six NASPA Region 1 senior student affairs officers’ retreats. He served on eight college accreditation teams or visitation committees, and made more than 60 presentations at regional and national conferences of NASPA, JASPA, the Society for College and University Planning (SCUP) and various other professional associations.



His professional honors included awards from NASPA as a “Pillar of the Profession” as well as for Outstanding Service and for Support for Graduate Students and New Professionals, the Yanitelli Award from JASPA, the St. Ignatius of Loyola Award for a Career of Service to Jesuit Higher Education, and Martin Luther King Award for Advocacy on Behalf of Students of Color from Boston College.

Henry Blackwell

Henry Blackwell, who taught English at Boston College for 32 years, died after a lengthy illness on Sept. 28, 2012.
 
The first African-American faculty member in BC’s English Department, Professor Blackwell specialized in African-American literature, American literature, and cultural studies. His scholarly interests included narrative theory, theoretical aspects of religion and literature, conflicts between culture and aesthetics, and blurred genres.

Colleagues recalled Professor Blackwell, a specialist in Flannery O’Connor, as a teacher devoted to his students and whose scholarly papers, delivered at academic conferences around the world, revealed a breadth of intellect and a passion for the subtleties of literature as well as the rigors of ethical debate. Even his introductions for visiting speakers were the brilliantly concise fruits of endless labor, colleagues said, and his letters of recommendations were also perfect little essays of clarity and sense.

Professor Blackwell's colleagues also praised his outreach to AHANA students, and for encouraging them to attend graduate school and pursue teaching careers. Many did, and kept in touch with Professor Blackwell about their career paths and achievements.

Professor Blackwell described teaching as a "constant challenge" that he addressed with a combination of engagement, care and discipline, setting the highest standards for his students. "I bully and cajole them into attempting quality work, most of them come around,” he wrote. “I'd like to be remembered for the time and attention I give to them."

One student wrote to him: "I was always amazed at your courage and integrity in facilitating the process of consciousness-raising while teaching the best and most challenging course I have taken at Boston College.  You deserve an award."

During his recent illness, a student brought him a paper she had written and asked him to correct it. He returned it to her with many minuscule corrections, advising her to "tighten-up if you want to pass this course." She received an “A” on the paper.

Born in 1936 in Baltimore, Professor Blackwell entered college at age 15 — having skipped several grades — but dropped out after two years. He entered the working world, started a family, and then finished his undergraduate degree by attending night school at Morgan State University.  He earned a Woodrow Wilson Scholarship to the University of Chicago, where he received his doctoral degree in 1976.  

Professor Blackwell taught English at the University of Connecticut before joining the faculty at BC. He retired from the University in 2010.

Ruth Ann Harris

Ruth-Ann Harris, a faculty member in the Irish Studies Program for nearly two decades whose research was the basis for the nation’s first online database for tracking “lost” Irish immigrants, died on Sept. 5. at age 76.

A resident of Jamaica Plain, Mass., Dr. Harris served as researcher and editor for an eight-volume set of books, The Search for Missing Friends: Irish Immigrant Advertisements Placed in The Boston Pilot, a compilation of advertisements from 1831-1921 in The Boston Pilot “Missing Friends” column placed by Irish seeking others who were “lost” following emigration.

In 2005, Boston College launched “Information Wanted: A Database of Advertisements for Irish Immigrants Published in The Boston Pilot,” a website that drew on Dr. Harris’ work. More than 41,000 records are now available as a searchable on-line database via the site.

“The advertisements contain the ordinary but revealing details about the missing person’s life: the county and parish of their birth, when they left Ireland, the believed port of arrival in North America, their occupation, and a range of other personal information,” according to the introduction on the “Information Wanted” site. “The people who placed ads were often anxious family members in Ireland, or the wives, siblings, or parents of men who followed construction jobs on railroads or canals.”

"These 'Missing Friends' advertisements provide a window on Irish immigration and the difficulties that surrounded it," said Dr. Harris in an interview at the time of the website’s launch. "Ties of community and family could be broken, but the searches represent the tremendous effort that family and friends made to reconstitute in America what they had lost in leaving Ireland. The column was critically important in this process of rebuilding lost ties."

Since immigration records from that era were not precise, she explained, data from “Missing Friends” supplied names, birthplaces, destinations and other details that help form a more complete picture of Irish immigration patterns.
"The information in the ads is still important in today's world; valuable for scholars as well as family historians who wish to learn more about the nineteenth century world of their ancestors,” she said.

Dr. Harris had a personal, as well as an academic, interest when it came to the subject of leaving family and home. Born in Liberia of English parents, she was sent to London as a small child at the outbreak of World War II, only to be caught up in the Nazis' bombing campaign of Great Britain. Barely school-aged, she was then relocated to Canada, where she stayed for five years until she was reunited with her parents.

"I suppose that's a major reason why I've always been interested in people and why they move," Dr. Harris said in the interview. "When you collect immigration stories, having one of your own gives you a certain insight."

A researcher in Irish social and economic history as well as immigration, Dr. Harris, who earned her doctorate from Tufts University, was founder and facilitator of the Boston Irish Colloquium, which began in 1993. In 1994-95 she was the senior research scholar at the Institute of Irish Studies at Queen’s University, Belfast.

Among her academic and professional affiliations, she worked with the Fulbright program as a regular liaison between the Council for International Exchange of Scholars, for the US Information Agency, Irish Scholarship Board, Cultural Affairs Committee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ireland, and as a cultural affairs officer on Fulbright Exchange Programs for the U.S. Embassy.

Dr. Harris is survived by her husband, John, her children, Catherine, Dorothy and Rees, and eight grandchildren.

John Cawthorne

In August of 2012, John Cawthorne, an urban education expert whose care and regard for students made him one of the Lynch School of Education’s most popular administrators,  died of cancer at the age of 70.
Dean Cawthorne officially retired this past spring from Boston College after having served for 13 years as associate dean for students and outreach at the Lynch School. In addition to coordinating the Office of Professional Practicum Experiences, he provided advising services to undergraduate and master’s degree students.

“John Cawthorne was a tremendous advocate for our students both inside and outside of the classroom,” said Lynch School Interim Dean Maureen Kenny. “His passing is a tremendous loss to our community, but the impact of his work and his dedication to the Lynch School will live on through the accomplishments of the many persons whose lives were transformed by his heart and his spirit."
Read tributes to Dean Cawthorne from a Spring 2011 BC reception: 'Remembering John Cawthorne'

As a faculty member and then as associate dean, he earned the love, admiration and respect from numerous students, who valued his level of commitment and willingness to help them find their professional and personal callings.
“He has instilled in us a sense of confidence that we do deserve to be successful and that we do deserve to have such a wonderful person in our lives,” said Robyn Antonucci ’11, at a gathering held for Dean Cawthorne in April 2011 after he had announced his forthcoming retirement.
At the event, Bryan Ramos ’10, M.Ed.’11 recalled how he had once asked Dean Cawthorne the easiest way to transfer out of the Lynch School. “He simply looked at me with a blank stare, like he normally does, and goes, ‘You won’t want to.’ And five years later, John is my mentor. He’s definitely influenced my passion to want to go into a higher education institution, and be the dean that he is and was for me.”
Matthew McCluskey ’11, M.Ed.’12 noted that Dean Cawthorne not only convinced him to study education instead of law, but had helped him land a one-month teaching placement at a South African high school. “I still go to him with questions, and he doesn’t give me answers. He gives me questions back. And that’s what I try to do with my students. And it’s brilliant. And it’s empowering. It teaches students self-efficacy and allows them to realize they have the answers themselves.”
In 2002, Dean Cawthorne received the Mary Kaye Waldron Award presented annually to the Boston College administrator or faculty member who has done the most to enhance student life at the University.
Among his other achievements and activities, Dean Cawthorne helped organize a drive to help the financially troubled Holy Family School of Natchez, Miss., one of the oldest African-American Catholic schools in the country.  He and Lynch School students made the 4,000-mile trip to bring supplies and support to the school, and stayed to help do clean-up and construction projects and play with the schoolchildren. The Natchez Immersion Trip has become an annual service opportunity for the Lynch School.
Dean Cawthorne, who began his association with the Lynch School in 1989 when he joined the school's Center for the Study of Testing, Evaluation and Educational Policy as a research associate, was a widely acknowledged advocate for urban education. He served as a consultant to school systems in Boston, Cambridge and several other Massachusetts communities, as well as in Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Ore., and Atlanta.
An active member of the National Urban League, he became NUL vice president for education in 1995, and in concert with his one-year appointment the organization’s educational office was relocated to the Lynch School’s home in Campion Hall.
"By taking advantage of the natural alliances between parents and teachers, we will help bridge the gap between communities and schools," he said in an interview after his appointment, "and that gap is wide in urban communities. The issue is how do we work with schools and families to create new structures — structures that incorporate and reflect home, community and school experiences and priorities."
In 2003, the Lynch School established the John E. Cawthorne Chair in Teacher Education for Urban Schools, awarded to a senior Lynch School faculty member who, through his or her scholarship and research, works to enhance the education of teachers for urban schools. The chair was endowed by a pledge from the Mahoney family, whose members include Jay Mahoney '69 and his daughter, Erin '02. The professorship is currently held by Marilyn Cochran-Smith.
Dean Cawthorne earned his bachelor's degree from Harvard University in 1964 and a master's degree in teaching from Antioch-Putney Graduate School of Education in 1969. 

Andrew Buni

Professor Emeritus Andrew Buni, who taught courses in American history at Boston College for 38 years until his retirement in 2006, died on Feb. 12, 2012 at age 80.

Dr. Buni’s courses covered a wide range of the American experience and reflected his own life interests and concerns: immigration, African-Americans, sports, and the city of Boston. His class on Boston’s neighborhoods was one of the University’s most popular courses.
  
College of Arts and Sciences Dean David Quigley, who once occupied a neighboring office to Dr. Buni when the history faculty was housed in Hovey House, recalled frequent conversations with his neighbor about basketball, jazz, politics and history.

“My favorite memory, though, was sitting with him at a back table for the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Dinner,” said Quigley. “At the end of the evening, the speaker announced that Andy was being honored for his decades of commitment to AHANA students at Boston College. He was stunned by the news and couldn’t fight back the tears. We had to push him forward to receive the award while the rest of the crowd stood applauding.”
  
Dr. Buni earned a bachelor’s degree in history at the University of New Hampshire in 1958 after serving in the US Army, a master’s from UNH the following year and a doctorate from the University of Virginia in 1965. He joined the BC faculty as an assistant professor in 1968 and was promoted to full professor in 1975.
  
“He was on the forefront of all progressive causes at BC,” recalled Associate Professor Cynthia Lyerly, another of Dr. Buni’s History Department colleagues. “Andy fought to bring Black Studies and black faculty to BC. He fought for hiring and tenuring more women. He fought for gay and lesbian faculty and he was probably one of the first faculty members to assign a book about lesbians in a class. He was honorable, quick to anger – but quick to get over it – and tenderhearted. Injustice and bigotry were the things he hated most.”
  
Former History chairman Professor Peter Weiler said Dr. Buni’s interest and concern extended to his colleagues in addition to his many students. “When I was chair, Andy would tell me every year that I should not increment his salary, but that I should give the money to the ‘kids,’ as he called the junior faculty. It was a remarkably generous action.”
  
Dr. Buni is survived by his wife, Joyce Buni of Needham

Jacqueline Criscenti

Dr. Jacqueline P. (Penez) Criscenti of Needham, May 24, 2015. Beloved wife of the late Dr. Joseph T. Criscenti. Devoted mother of Louise J. Criscenti of Albuquerque, NM. Also survived by her sister, Lily Ethier of Newton, brother-in-law Sam Criscenti of Michigan, and several nieces and nephews. Jacqueline was born in Woonsocket, RI and graduated suma com laude from Regis College in 1945. She received a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Minnesota in 1954. While a faculty member at Boston College, she married Joseph T. Criscenti, who passed away in 2013. They were married for 56 years. Jacqueline retired from academia as a professor at Regis College. In retirement, Jacqueline continued to enjoy learning mathematics and computer science, combining tours of the country with visits to her daughter, and living among friendly neighbors in Needham. Funeral from the George F. Doherty & Sons Funeral Home, 1305 Highland Ave. NEEDHAM, Friday at 9 am followed by a Funeral Mass in St. Bartholomew Church, Needham at 10 am. Relatives and friends kindly invited. Visiting hours Thursday from 4-8 pm. Interment in Holyhood Cemetery, Brookline. In lieu of flowers, expressions of sympathy may be made in Jackie's memory to Regis College, Office of Institutional Advancement & Alumni Relations, 235 Wellesley St., Weston, MA 02493 

 

Donald J. Dietrich

Theology Professor Emeritus Donald Dietrich, chairman of the Theology Department from 1991 to 2000, died Nov. 16, 2013. He was 72.

Dr. Dietrich was an internationally recognized scholar of the German Catholic experience, Christian-Jewish relations and the Holocaust. He was the author of Human Rights and the Catholic Tradition; God and Humanity in Auschwitz: Jewish-Christian Relations and Sanctioned Murder, and Catholic Citizens in the Third Reich: Psycho-Social Principles and Moral Reasoning. He also was the editor of, or contributor to, numerous publications, including Christian Responses to the Holocaust: Moral and Ethical Issues, Priests for the 21^st Century, The Legacy of the Tubingen School: The Relevance of Nineteenth Century Theology for the Twenty-First Century, and Anti-Semitism, Christian Ambivalence and the Holocaust. In addition, he wrote well over 100 book reviews.

He served on the Committee on Church Relations and the Holocaust at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. His professional affiliations included membership in the Church History Society, Catholic Historical Association, and Catholic Theological Society of America.

Dr. Dietrich joined the Boston College faculty in 1989, after 20 years on the faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Originally from Buffalo, Dr. Dietrich earned a bachelor’s degree from Canisius College. He received a master’s degree and doctorate in modern German history from the University of Minnesota.

“Don was a warm person with a great deal of wisdom,” recalled Theology Professor of Jewish Studies Rabbi Ruth Langer, associate director of the University’s Center for Christian-Jewish Learning. “He hired me and mentored me in my early career. He was an extraordinarily effective chairperson who knew how to get things done.

“He was very much involved in the founding of the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning and very encouraging as the center developed. Even after he was no longer chair, he was very supportive of our work.”

At Dr. Dietrich’s retirement reception in May, Walsh Professor of Bioethics Rev. John Paris, SJ, reflected on Dr. Dietrich’s tenure as chair noting that he held that role with “poise, equanimity and a seemingly unflappable demeanor” and that he was “devoted to making Boston College an outstanding center for theological scholarship and teaching.”

In addition to his teaching and mentoring, Dr. Dietrich was a “first rate scholar,” according to Fr. Paris, delivering lectures at Oxford and in London, Madrid, Leuven, Aalborg, Berlin, Graz, Utrecht, Haifa, and Vancouver.

Fr. Paris and Dr. Dietrich were friends for more than 20 years, having lunch together every day and sharing summer vacations in Wellfleet. He called Dr. Dietrich a “gracious companion” and their decades as friends and colleagues a “marvelous, memory-filled experience.

“Of all my memories of Don Dietrich at Boston College the most vivid—and most memorable—was presiding over his wedding to Linda. At Boston College, Don found not only scholarly achievement and administrative success, he also found and wed the love of his life,” said Fr. Paris.

 

Robert Carovillano

Robert Carovillano, an internationally recognized professor of physics who chaired the department for 13 years during his distinguished 44-year career at Boston College, died on Oct. 15. He was 83.

After earning master’s and doctoral degrees in theoretical physics from Indiana University, Dr. Carovillano – the son of Italian immigrants and first in his family to attend college – joined the Physics Department in 1959 as an assistant professor, and was promoted to professor in 1966; he served as department chair from 1969-82, and retired from BC in 2003. A prodigious scholar, he published numerous articles and books on the magnetosphere, ionosphere, solar wind, and related topics.

Dr. Carovillano pursued numerous professional activities and service in the field beyond BC.  He was a member or chair of numerous advisory committees for the National Academy of Sciences, National Center for Atmospheric Research, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the National Science Foundation (NSF); he also was an officer and trustee of the Universities Space Research Association, where he twice served as chairman of the Council of Institutions, and an officer of the American Geophysical Union.

Dr. Carovillano was principal investigator on many research grants and contracts funded by the NSF, NASA, the Office of Naval Research, and the Air Force, and was a visiting senior scientist at NASA Headquarters in the Office of Space Science, where he was responsible for the supervision of several programs and research initiatives in space physics. He served on NASA’s Space Science Advisory Committee and reviewed numerous space shuttle and satellite projects.

A native of Newark, NJ, Dr. Carovillano overcame infantile paralysis from polio and was able to enjoy games of stickball in the streets of Newark, and later became an avid squash and tennis player. He was a resident of Needham while at BC, and later moved to Delray Beach, Fla.

He was pre-deceased by his wife, Mary Ann, to whom he was married for more than 30 years. His is survived by his daughters Deborah and Rebecca; his son David; sisters Rae and Geraldine; and eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

 

Raymond G. Helmick, S.J.

Raymond G. Helmick, S.J.  Raymond Helmick was born on September 7 th , 1931, in Arlington,  Massachusetts, a western suburb of Boston, and grew up there. His  father had come from Midwestern German Lutheran stock; his mother  had been born in Boston, the daughter of Irish immigrants. Ray was the  second of three children. His sister Marie was the oldest; his brother  Bill, six years younger, became a diocesan priest. Ray attended St. Agnes  Parish schools through the ninth grade and then transferred to Boston  College High School. He graduated in 1949 and entered the  Shadowbrook novitiate on his 18 th birthday.  It turned out he would enter the Society twice. The first time he  developed a stomach ulcer during his primi year and, because there had  been a spate of ulcer diagnoses in the novitiate, superiors decided that  first-year novices so afflicted would be sent home. Ray was determined  to re-apply, however, and he entered Shadowbrook again in February,  1951. This time proved more auspicious and his novitiate and juniorate  years passed uneventfully. After philosophy studies at Weston (1954-  1957), he spent regency teaching history and religion at St. George’s  College in Kingston, Jamaica (1957-1960).  He did theology studies at Sankt Georgen, in Frankfurt, Germany,  and was ordained a priest in the Frankfurt cathedral in August 1963. He  returned to the U.S. the following year for tertianship at Pomfret,  Connecticut. As was the custom with men assigned to the missions, he  returned to Jamaica and St. George’s.  Here, Ray’s future work with social and political structures and  conflict-resolution initiatives began to take shape. In walks through  Kingston this blond, precisely spoken, reserved, very white man got to  know a number of Rastafarians, a bible-oriented group of urban and  rural poor often demonized in Jamaican society. He became something  of a sympathetic friend, representing them to government agencies and  writing in positive terms about them in the Jamaican press.  Expecting to teach at the Kingston seminary, Ray left Jamaica in  1967 to pursue graduate studies in ecumenical theology at Union  Theological Seminary and Columbia University. In the summer of 1972  he led a group of theology students to Belfast, a city notable then for its  sectarian conflicts. The visit proved life-changing, he said. Driving a  rental car around the group’s work sites and talking to everybody as he  went, he established friendships with people on all sides of the religious  and political troubles. Perceiving that the problems were less religious  than economic, Ray set about bringing groups together to address one  key issue, job development. He agreed to lead an effort to persuade  American and British companies to establish manufacturing facilities in  neighborhoods accessible to both Protestant and Catholic populations,  whose safety would be guaranteed by both government and IRA  factions. This occupied much of his time during his last year at Union.  When he left Union in 1973 he moved to London, where he set up  an ecumenical center focused on conflict resolution (he preferred the  Mennonite term “conflict transformation”), a joint ministry of the Irish  and British Jesuit provinces. Dialogue and correspondence with key  political and religious leaders in the patient search for solutions to  apparently intractable problems became the center of his work over the  next four decades—in Ireland, Lebanon, Kurdish Iraq, Israel, Palestine,  and the Balkans. It was necessarily a hidden apostolate, as it often  involved figures whose names would otherwise grab headlines, in many  of the world’s hot spots—simply applying the principles of Ignatian  discernment, he described it.  From 1982 to 1985 he was based at NGOs in Washington. Then  he moved to Boston College, where for the next seventeen years he  continued his conflict-resolution work while teaching related courses in  the theology department and at St. John’s Seminary. He made firm  friendships in ecumenical circles in Boston’s theological schools. In  2002-2004 he served as senior associate at the Center for Strategic & amp;  International Studies, in Washington.  Ray had a lifelong interest in music, architecture, and other art  forms. When he graduated from B.C. High he had been offered a piano  scholarship at the New England Conservatory but chose the Jesuit  novitiate instead. In his years of graduate study at Union he relaxed by  building a harpsichord. When he returned to Boston, his artistic  interests blossomed again. Some time before, his brother Bill had  become pastor of St. Theresa’s, a large parish in the heavily Catholic  West Roxbury section of Boston, and was now renovating the church.  Ray built a magnificent free-standing tabernacle of gilded and  polychromed wood, modeled on 15 th -century examples at Louvain.  Then he began work on a mosaic of Christ healing, for a wall next to a  handicapped ramp at the church. A large mosaic of St. Theresa was  unfinished when he died.  Illness brought him to Campion Center in 2012. He continued as  many of his activities as health allowed (even teaching on a part-time  basis at B.C. until 2015), but the last years of his life were marked by a  series of complications and hospitalizations. He seemed to rally from  each with his characteristic cheerfulness, patience, and wit intact, but  his body was slowly giving out.  Just after Easter, his brother Bill had major surgery and the  superior at Campion invited him to recuperate there. Meanwhile Ray  had been hospitalized again. The two brothers arrived at Campion  within a day of each other and occupied nearby rooms. Family  members gathered for a lunch celebrating Ray’s upcoming 85 th birthday.  Three days later, his conditioned worsened and Ray was anointed.  Cardinal Sean O’Malley came to pray at his bedside. He died peacefully  in the early morning of April 21 st , 2016.

John Fitzgerald

FITZGERALD, Professor John J, age 96, of Millis, Sat March 26, 2016. He was Beloved husband of Margaret (Zack) Fitzgerald, loving father of Christopher Fitzgerald of Millis, Terence Fitzgerald and his wife Jacquelyn of Milton, Paul Fitzgerald and his wife Diane of Groton, and John ‘Jack’ Fitzgerald and his wife Loretta of Millis. Also survived by 5 Grandchildren. 

John was the son of the late Richard and Catherine (Sheehan) Fitzgerald. He had two sisters; Mary and Margaret, and two brothers; Richard and William. He attended and graduated from Malden Catholic High School and received his Ph.D. from Fordham University.

A Millis resident from 1959, he was an active communicant of St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Millis where he was a lay minister of the Eucharist and a lector for many years.

He retired after over 50 years of employment as an Associate Professor of English Literature at Boston College. He was a popular Professor and would weave family stories into his lectures over which he labored to keep fresh and interesting. He corrected students’ double-spaced papers armed with a red pen and would re-write their poorly written sentences and correct their grammatical errors so they could improve their writing skills on their next papers. Depending on the student, there could be as much red ink as the original. He corrected the worst papers first, and stayed up late to correct all of them so they could be returned in time to benefit the students’ next assignments. He loved his best writers, delighted in recognizing students’ improvements, and savored the best original metaphors students at any writing skill level might form. Thousands of BC students learned to write properly under his dedicated tutelage.

He was a scholar. Words were earnestly traced back to their roots in Middle English, Old English, the Romance languages, Latin and Greek. He translated ancient Greek and Latin to English but not just into direct and literal translations but into beautiful English sentences reminiscent of the writings of the founding Fathers. He spent months studying Spanish in Mexico and for a time was the English Department’s official liaison to Spanish-speaking students. He had many friends at Boston College and reveled in contributing to the intellectual banter among the professors.

He was a traveler. In 1967 for sabbatical he took his family of six to Europe. The trip started aboard the original ocean liner, The Queen Elizabeth. Upon landing in Cork, he had an unexpectedly week-long stop at an Irish Bed & Breakfast while son Terry’s appendix was removed. He was skilled with words, but was not mechanically or athletically gifted and was exasperated driving his big American car on the wrong side of the road in the busy city of London. In fact, driving in any major city was like being in the crater of Mt. Vesuvius –hot magma on the inside with vents of steam issuing forth, which delighted the four boys and that only served to raise the emotional temperature in the car even higher. Nevertheless, he persevered and brought the family to other cities including Paris, Munich, Stuttgart, Vienna, Venice, Florence, Rome and finally to Naples where the ocean liner The SS Rotterdam was waiting. In 1969, he took just his wife for a trip to Spain and Portugal. In 1973 he took his wife and son Paul for a five week trip behind the Iron Curtain.  He became an avid camper, towing a pop-up trailer for lengthy family vacations to Florida, cross-country to the West Coast, and trips to Canada. Stays at the National Parks were his favorites, with regular camping trips to the Shakespeare Festival with just his wife a close second. After his official retirement, he and his wife took trips to Greece, Russia, India, and China. And after each day of traveling, no matter how weary he was, he would write in his hardcover journal the events of the day. He recently read his old journals.

Radu Florescu

Boston College History Professor Emeritus Radu Florescu, co-author of the bestseller In Search of Dracula, which revealed the historical identity of the legendary Dracula for the first time, died in France on May 18 at age 88. He had taught at Boston College for 45 years.

Dr. Florescu and the late Raymond T. McNally, also a professor in the Boston College History Department, published In Search of Dracula in 1972. Their book, which was researched in Romania under a Fulbright grant, was the first to identify Vlad Tepes, a 15^th century prince, as the Dracula of literature. Vlad Tepes was known as Vlad the Impaler for impaling his enemies on stakes. Dr. Florescu also located Vlad Tepes’ castle in the Transylvanian Alps. The book garnered the writing duo international fame, landing Dr. Florescu on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.”

Dr. Florescu and the late Raymond T. McNally, also a professor in the Boston College History Department, published In Search of Dracula in 1972. Their book, which was researched in Romania under a Fulbright grant, was the first to identify Vlad Tepes, a 15^th century prince, as the Dracula of literature. Vlad Tepes was known as Vlad the Impaler for impaling his enemies on stakes. Dr. Florescu also located Vlad Tepes’ castle in the Transylvanian Alps. 

The book garnered the writing duo international fame, landing Dr. Florescu on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.”

Originally banned in Romania, In Search of Dracula was only made available in that country after the fall of Communism. The book has since been translated into more than a dozen languages.

Dr. Florescu and Dr. McNally authored several other books: Dracula Prince of Many Faces; The Complete Dracula; The Essential Dracula; Dracula: A Biography of Vlad the Impaler, and In Search of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Dr. Florescu also wrote In Search of Frankenstein and In Search of the Pied Piper, among other books and scholarly articles.

Born in Bucharest, Dr. Florescu was the son of a Romanian diplomat. He left Romania at age 13 at the outbreak of World War II. At the heart of Dr. Florescu’s academic study of Dracula was a desire to shine a light on Romania and Eastern Europe. For many years, he directed the East European Research Center at Boston College. He organized symposia and cultural events celebrating Romanian heritage. He also donated hundreds of books on Romanian history to Boston College. He advised the late US Senator Edward Kennedy on Romanian affairs and the US State Department during the reign of communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu. In 1996, Dr. Florescu was appointed Honorary Consul of Romania for New England. In this capacity, he oversaw the presidential and parliamentary voting by Romanians living in the Greater Boston area.  In 2004, he was invited by President Bill Clinton to attend the White House ceremony when Romania was granted membership to NATO.

Tributes to Dr. Florescu have come from throughout the international community. On behalf of King Michael of Romania, the palace issued the following statement, “Through his work, Professor Florescu built a bridge between Romania and the United States, giving Romanian history a drop of universality.”

"In the past century, no American has educated more Americans about Romania -- and Dracula -- than Professor Florescu. I was lucky to be one of his grateful students," said former US Ambassador to Romania Jim Rosapepe.

Dr. Florescu graduated with bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Oxford. He earned a doctorate from Indiana University. He joined the Boston College faculty in 1953 and taught in the History Department until his retirement in 1998.

Dr. Florescu’s last public appearance at Boston College was in the fall of 2013 for a book signing for his newest publication, co-authored with Matei Cazacu, Dracula’s Bloodline: A Florescu Family Saga, which tells the story of the links between the Florescus of Romania and Vlad the Impaler.

Dr. Florescu is survived by his wife, Nicole, his children Nicholas ‘74, John ‘76, Radu ‘83 and Alexandra Lobkowicz ’85, and 13 grandchildren.

Marjory Gordon

A funeral Mass was celebrated Monday in St. Ignatius Church for Professor Emerita Marjory Gordon, a Connell School of Nursing faculty member for 23 years and an internationally recognized expert on the development of standardized nursing language, who died on April 29.

Dr. Gordon was the creator of the Eleven Functional Health Patterns (FHP), which has provided generations of nurses with a format for patient diagnosis. Her groundbreaking work in clinical reasoning and nursing language development was credited with giving nurses a voice in patient care outcomes and leading to the adoption of nursing language in the emerging area of electronic medical recordkeeping.

She published four books, including the Manual of Nursing Diagnosis, which is in its 12th edition and has been translated into almost a dozen languages, and lectured to nurses and educators on nursing diagnosis and FHP in Japan, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Denmark, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Singapore, Australia, Brazil, and throughout Central America.

In 1982, Dr. Gordon became the first president of NANDA, the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association. She was principal investigator on research projects involving nursing processes and nursing diagnoses, and co-director of a US Public Health Service Grant to improve nurses’ diagnostic and ethical reasoning.

Dr. Gordon, who retired from the Connell School in 1996, was a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, which in 2009 honored her as a Living Legend of the Academy. Speaking at the award ceremony, her Connell School colleague Professor Sister Callista Roy said, “She began this work [of creating a common nursing language] when computers were just starting. And, now this is the basis for the nursing component of the electronic medical record. I think she’s a role model for all us. She is constantly raising the standards and the clarity of nursing diagnosis so as to give nursing a voice and visibility in health care.”
Sister Roy said that because of Dr. Gordon’s work, “nursing as a discipline is stronger in the US and around the world.”

Among many other honors, Dr. Gordon was presented with the Mentor’s Award from NANDA-International, and was among the members of the inaugural class of NANDA International Fellows inducted in 2012. In a tribute to Dr. Gordon on its website last week, NANDA-International called her “an ever-present voice for standardized nursing diagnoses that would support clinical decision making.

“The fact that she insisted on diagnostic criteria to support that critical thinking – before the introduction of technology or electronic health records – is a testament to her vision as well as her awareness of the need for accuracy in diagnosis to drive quality, safe patient care.”

She also received the Massachusetts Nurses Association Education Award; Japanese Society for Nursing Diagnosis’ Distinguished Service Award, and the Massachusetts Association of Registered Nurses Living Legend Award.

Dr. Gordon earned bachelor of science and master of science degrees from Hunter College, City University of New York and a doctoral degree from Boston College.

Ray Biggar

Raymond Biggar Died peacefully and with dignity at home in Saco on Wednesday, September 30, after a long illness. Ray grew up in Saco. A member of the Class of 1948 at Thornton Academy, he was class president his senior year. He graduated in 1952 from Bowdoin College with an A.B. in English, and in 1953 from Harvard University with a Master of Arts in Teaching. He taught at Scituate High School, Scituate, MA and Bridgewater State College, Bridgewater, MA, before entering the doctoral program in English at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1961. He taught Medieval English literature, the History of the English Language, and English as a Second Language for Foreign Students in the English Department at Boston College for over 40 years, retiring in 2000. In 2011, he moved to Saco to an independent living cottage at Atlantic Heights. He enjoyed the Atlantic Heights Cottage Residents Community, especially Monday morning Men's Discussion Group. Raymond is survived by his wife of fifteen years, Cynthia Bland-Biggar, who currently serves as Pastor of the Standish Congregational Church, UCC in Standish; by sons Robert Biggar (Angela) of Setauket, NY and James Biggar (Stephanie Boutin) of Arlington, MA and by his grandchildren Andrew, Jeremy, Talia and Emily Biggar; by three stepchildren from his first marriage, Michael Herz (Jean Roiphe), Jonathan Herz (Carolyn) and Margaret Albright (John) and their families. He is also survived by his sister Ruth B. Claypool of Acton, MA; by several nieces, a nephew and 8 step grandchildren Daniel, Zachary and Rachel Herz-Roiphe; Ethan and Seth Herz; and Kate "Sam", Emma and Jake Albright. He was predeceased by his brother Robert Watson Biggar, Jr. (Bob). Ray will be sadly missed by his beloved Border Collie dog, Sophie (whom he walked daily until Friday, September 25) and by his cat companion, Lily.

The Biggar family wishes to acknowledge with gratitude the excellent care provided by Dr. Kurt Ebrahim and Danielle Bowen NPC and the staff at New England Center for Cancer Medicine; by Cecile Roy R.N., and other staff members at the Ambulatory Care Unit of Southern Maine Health Care Center; and by Hospice of Southern Maine. A memorial service will be held at 11a.m. on Saturday, October 3, 2015 at Standish Congregational Church, UCC 25 Oak Hill Road, Standish. A graveside service will be held at the Biggar family plot in Laurel Hill Cemetery at 2 p.m. the same day. Dennett, Craig and Pate Funeral Home, 365 Main Street, SACO is in charge of the arrangements. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made in Ray's memory to Thornton Academy, 438 Main Street, Saco, ME 04072; Bowdoin College Scholarship, 4500 College Station, Brunswick, ME 04011;or to Standish Congregational Church, UCC, 25 Oak Hill Road, Standish, ME 04084.

Peter Airasian

Dr. Peter W. Airasian, of Lexington, SC, formerly of Watertown, Natick and Harwich. Beloved husband of the late Gwendolyn K. (Foley). Loving father of Lynn A. and her husband David P. FitzGerald of NC and Gregory P. and his wife Karen F. of SC. Also survived by three grandchildren and three step-grandchildren. Dear brother of John S. of Watertown and Paul M. of Belmont. Funeral from the MacDonald, Rockwell & MacDonald Funeral Home at 270 Main St., on Rt. 20, Watertown, on Tuesday, April 15th at 8:00 A.M., followed by a Funeral Mass at 9:00 A.M. in St. Luke's Parish, 132 Lexington St., Belmont. Relatives and friends kindly invited. Interment Mt. Auburn Cemetery. Visiting hours Monday, April 14th from 4:00-8:00 P.M. Contributions may be made in Peter's memory to the Campus School at Boston College by visiting www.bc.edu/campusschool or by mailing donations to Boston College Campus School, In Honor of Peter Airasian, 140 Commonwealth Ave., Chestnut Hill, MA 02467. 

Published in The Boston Globe on Apr. 13, 2014

 

Joe Casey, S.J.

Jesuit Father Joseph H. Casey was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, on Oct. 13, 1917. His father was a laborer and the family, which included an older brother and a younger sister, lived in very modest circumstances. When Fr. Casey was five, the family moved to Flint, Michigan, for two years, but essentially Fr. Casey grew up in St. Patrick’s Parish in Lynn. Fr. Casey contributed to the family income, delivering newspapers and selling eggs and candy door-to-door. When he was 11 he learned caddying at a North Shore golf course and continued doing this through high school, becoming an adept golfer in the process and acquiring what he called “street smarts” about getting along with people and earning money. He went to St. Mary’s Boys High in Lynn and then to Boston College for a year.

In August 1936, he entered the novitiate at Shadowbrook. He said later that at that point he was much more interested in being a priest than a Jesuit and indeed thought that the Jesuit novitiate might eventually lead him to St. John’s Seminary in Boston. But his mother died while he was a second-year novice and the kindness of the Jesuits at St. Mary’s Parish in the North End of Boston, where he stayed for her funeral, led him to “fall in love with the Society.”

His course of studies was typical of the period. After novitiate and juniorate at Shadowbrook, he did philosophy studies at Weston from 1940 to 1943. Regency was at the recently opened Fairfield Prep, from 1943 to 1945. His interest and talent in philosophy was already evident, and he was then sent to Fordham to do a one-year master’s program from 1945 to 1946. He returned to Weston for theology studies and was ordained to the priesthood in June 1949. A year later, he went to Wépion, Belgium, for tertianship. In 1951-53, he was sent to the Gregorian University in Rome, where he earned a doctorate in the customary biennium of studies for men assigned to teach in formation programs.

In 1953, he joined the philosophy faculty of Weston College, teaching natural theology, linguistic analysis and logic. During his Weston teaching years, he audited courses in analytic philosophy at Harvard and at NYU. His Weston teaching ended in the late sixties when the faculty and student body moved to Boston College. Fr. Casey chose to continue living at Weston, in part because he regularly did parish ministry at the local parish, St. Julia’s. He also gave retreats and was sought after as a confessor and spiritual director by religious and diocesan clergy.

In 2005, when he was 87, he was asked to retire from his position at Boston College, and he found an alternative when Blessed John XXIII seminary invited him to teach a course on the thought of Germain Grisez. In the years that followed, he continued to write on Grisez, the philosophical arguments for the existence of God, the natural law and moral theology. He also continued serving at St. Julia’s and other neighboring parishes.

Though in no apparent ill health beforehand, in early February of 2015 he grew noticeably weaker and died peacefully on Feb. 27, eight months short of his 98th birthday. 

Dean Richard Huber

Former Boston College Law Dean and longtime faculty member Richard Huber, died on Saturday, December 15, 2011. A member of the Law School faculty from 1957 until his retirement in 2005, Professor Huber was 92.

“Dick Huber was well-known for his warm, generous nature, his intellect and compassion, and his ability to bring out the best in everyone he touched,” said BC Law Dean Vincent Rougeau. “He will be missed.”

Huber began teaching at BC Law in 1957, served as dean from 1970-1985, and continued teaching for the school until retiring in 2005. He had a tremendous influence on BC Law as dean, overseeing the move from More Hall on the BC Chestnut Hill campus to the school’s current Newton campus in 1975, helping introduce the first joint degree program in collaboration with the business school, and increasing resources for clinical programs and courses, among many other efforts.

He was also very active in AHANA recruitment and hiring. In 1977, Huber hired the Law School’s first full-time black professor, 1974 graduate Ruth-Arlene Howe. Former Dean Daniel Coquillette, who succeeded Huber in 1985, said he built on Dean Robert Drinan, S.J.’s legacy, and called Huber “one of the great, monumental figures of our time,” not just at Boston College, but in all of legal education. Huber’s work as president of both the Association of American Law Schools and the Council on Legal Education Opportunity changed the course of legal education and the profession. “He played a vital role in minority enrollment, not just at BC but nationally,” Coquillette said. “Besides promotion of minorities, Dick was a tremendous advocate for women in law school…by the time he was done, female enrollment here went from essentially nothing to about 40%.”

The Environmental Affairs Law Review, International and Comparative Law Review, and Third World Law Journal at BC Law all began under Huber’s leadership. The Black American, Asian American, and Latin American law students associations formed. Faculty size grew by eight between 1970 and 1979 alone, and slots were created for a director of alumni relations and a director of admissions and financial aid. He also helped build the law library from a one-room operation to a first-class, national powerhouse with over 150,000 volumes.

But Huber may be best remembered and loved for his people skills. “Dick’s unique contribution was internal,” says Sharon Hamby O’Connor, BC Law librarian from 1979 to 2002. “He had a remarkable ability to find the best in people without being unaware of their foibles, to bring out the best in a person without being paternalistic.”

Huber fostered a culture of collegiality among faculty and between faculty and students that became ingrained and remains one of the Law School’s hallmarks. “The school really thrived under Dick,” said Charles “Buzzy” Baron, who served as an assistant dean under Huber. “When people came to him with ideas, his attitude was, let’s see if we can make that work. Nobody could have been more nurturing than Dick. There was no sense of playing favorites; he was supportive of everyone. He cared about everybody honestly.”

When Coquillette was hired as dean, he inherited a Law School that was as promising outwardly as it was inwardly, thanks to Huber’s generous nature. He remains forever grateful.

“Dick was an enormous help to me when I took over,” Coquillette said. “He was always available, someone I could turn to at any time, a best friend. The school was in excellent shape. He had this naval background, a way of leading that was probably developed at the academy, and I always thought of him as captain of the ship. Everyone looked up to him…You have to remember that Dick came in during a time of campus unrest, not just at BC but across the country, and he followed a tremendously popular dean in Bob Drinan. Those were critical years for BC. But when I came in, it was the happiest law school I’d ever seen.”

Huber received his B.S. degree from the United States Naval Academy in 1941, his J.D. degree from the University of Iowa in 1950 and his Masters in Law degree from Harvard University in 1951. He served his country with distinction in World War II and the Korean War. Huber authored numerous articles in his fields of expertise: Land Use and Property Law, Professional Responsibility, Constitutional Law, Environmental Law and Legal Education. He was the recipient of Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws from Northeastern University, New England School of Law and Roger Williams University.

Huber served for many years as Trustee of Beaver Country Day School, Chairman of the Executive Board of the Social Welfare Research Institute and Trustee and Committee Chairman of the New England Chapter of Multiple Sclerosis Society. He was one of the first recipients of the National MS Society's Hope award. 

 

George Aragon

ARAGON, George Age 65, of Waltham and formerly of Newton, died suddenly after a long illness May 3, 2009. He was born August 9, 1943, to Manuel and Raquel Aragon in Douglas, Arizona. Dr. Aragon graduated with the degree of Doctor of Business Administration from Harvard Business School in 1975 and was Associate Professor and member of the Finance faculty in the Carroll School of Management at Boston College for the last 34 years. He also served as chairperson of the department from 1999-2002. Aragon influenced financial policy through his published works and service to the profession, and through the efforts of his many students, he will be sorely missed. 

Arthur Berney

The anti-semitic prejudice Arthur Berney experienced as a boy growing up in a multi-ethnic New Jersey neighborhood fueled a long career dedicated to righting injustice and championing the underdog. “His time here made us a better place,” wrote Dean Vincent Rougeau in a message informing the Boston College Law School community of Berney’s passing on April 1, just four months shy of his ninetieth birthday.

Berney “always spoke truth to power,” says friend and BC Law Professor Kent Greenfield. In the summer of 1953, this trait drew the notice of twenty-four-year-old Alice Menkes, when Berney was the only employee with the courage to challenge dangerous management practices at the Adirondacks resort where they both worked as seasonal waitstaff. Berney married Alice, a Viennese-born survivor of the Holocaust, in New York City in January 1954, and the couple had two sons, Lawrence and Ronald. Their sixty-one year marriage ended with Alice’s death in 2015. BC Law Professor Francine Sherman ’80 remembers Berney’s “tremendous love and devotion to his family.”

During his tenure at the Law School, 1964 to 2001, as a teacher of constitutional, communications, and national security law, “Arthur was a beacon of justice and social responsibility” who became “the conscience of the school,” says BC Law Professor Robert M. Bloom ’71. Berney’s first book, Legal Problems of the Poor, 1976, was a “trailblazing effort” that helped establish the field of poverty law, recalls BC Law Professor George Brown. Brown also views Berney as a pioneer in national security law, in which he co-authored one of the first casebooks.

As a civil rights litigator, Berney made his mark as a junior but influential member of the team representing the Loving family in the landmark 1967 case Loving v Virginia that resulted in the striking down of laws banning interracial marriage. Greenfield notes that decades later the due process rationale championed by Berney in Loving provided the basis for the recognition of marriage equality for same-sex couples. When Massachusetts became the first state in the union to recognize same sex marriage following the 2003 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision in Goodridge v Department of Public Health, Greenfield recalls, Berney was among the leading civil rights activists invited to speak before a celebrating crowd at Faneuil Hall. “Arthur’s brilliance, intellectual innovation, and dedication to justice ended up benefitting literally millions of Americans,” says Greenfield.

When E.L. Doctorow’s 1971 novel, The Book of Daniel, featured as a major character a “Boston College law professor” modeled closely on Arthur Berney, fact and fiction quickly blurred in Law School folklore. The novel is loosely based on the story of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, convicted and executed for espionage in 1953, and rumors circulated that Berney had acted as an attorney for the Rosenbergs, or a foster-parent for their orphaned sons. Either would have been absolutely in character, but neither was true.

Berney’s son Ronald puts the record straight. His father and Doctorow formed a lifelong friendship during army basic training in 1953, and their families stayed close for over sixty years. The characters of Robert and Lise Lewin, the foster parents of the fictional counterparts of the Rosenberg children, are indeed based on Arthur and Alice Berney, but as far as Ronald Berney knows, his parents never met the Rosenbergs.

What is certainly true is that Doctorow’s portrait of the hardworking, upright lawyer with a kind smile and a gentle sense of humor is an enduring tribute to his old friend, and a lasting memorial to the man who in the words of Dean Rougeau, will be “fondly remembered for his dedication, brilliance, courage, and honesty.”

BY JANE WHITEHEAD

 

Gary Brazier

Assoc. Prof. Emeritus Gary P. Brazier (Political Science) was a faculty member for 32 years who died on March 10 at age 83. A native of Minnesota, Prof Brazier attended Mankato State Teachers College and graduated from Southern Illinois University in 1946. He added a master’s degree from the University ofWashington in 1948 and a doctorate in political science from the University of Minnesota in 1959. Prof. Brazier joined the Boston College faculty in 1959 and retired from the University in 1991. In 1969, Prof. Brazier served as the University’s Director of Residential Life in addition to his teaching duties. He also worked for many years as a spotter for the public address announcer at Boston College home football games. A long-time resident of Newton, Prof. Brazier was married to the late Elizabeth Ann Brazier. He is survived by seven children and 11 grandchildren

 

John Donovan

DONOVAN, John D. Of Walpole, MA (formerly of Needham and Westborough) died on August 14, 2020 at the age of 102. Born in Peabody, MA on February 15, 1918 he was the son of Ellen and John A. Donovan from Mayo and Cork, Ireland, respectively. He was the brother of the late Helen O'Keefe and was married to his beloved wife, Mary Phipps of Waltham, MA for 63 years until her death in 2013. His blue eyes, wit and wisdom will be missed by his devoted daughter, Christine Moynihan and her husband, Frank as well as his cherished grandsons Michael, Brian and Adam Graber and their wives, Virginia Garcia, Stephanie Graber, and Nicole Graber. His great-grandchildren Eleanor, Harlan, Nicolas, Madeleine, Owen, and Colin Graber adored their great-grandfather, Boppa and he adored each one of them in turn. He also leaves his son, John D. Donovan, Jr. of Wayland, John's wife Donna Hale and their daughters Caitlin and Molly Donovan. John graduated from St. John's Prep in Danvers in 1935 and earned his BA at Boston College in 1939. He then completed his master's degree at BC before continuing towards his doctorate at Harvard. His PhD studies were interrupted when he joined the army to serve in WWll. He landed on Omaha Beach shortly after D-Day as a medical officer in the 83rd, "Thunderbolt Division". He was awarded the Bronze Star for heroism when, upon learning of casualties in Gey, Germany, he went alone to care for some wounded troops and affect their successful evacuation. He was promoted to Captain and honorably discharged in 1946. In June of this year, he was recognized by the French government for his wartime service as a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. After the war, he completed work on his doctorate and began teaching at Fordham University. He returned to Boston College in 1952 becoming the first Chairman of the Sociology Department. He taught there until 1988 and then continued teaching part-time as Professor Emeritus until 2002, a total of 50 years. He wrote many scholarly papers on the Catholic Church and the dilemma of priestly celibacy and authored "The Academic Man in the Catholic College". He was a visiting professor at the University of Leuven, Belgium and at Dublin University in Ireland. Over the years at BC, he helped create the Student Athlete Assistance Program and Boston College's Retired Faculty Association. 

 

Jeanne Guillemin

GUILLEMIN-MESELSON--Jeanne, medical anthropologist and author, died of cancer, aged 76, on November 15 at her home in Cambridge, MA, surrounded by her immediate family. She was a graduate of Harvard College, class of 1968, Professor of International Relations and Anthropology at Boston College, where she taught for 33 years, and Senior Fellow in the Security Studies Program at MIT from 1999 until her death. She was loved by generations of undergraduates at BC and by the doctoral candidates she mentored at MIT. Her doctoral dissertation at Brandeis University, "Urban Renegades: The Cultural Strategy of American Indians" (Columbia 1973) documented how a community of Native Americans adjusts to life in an urban environment while retaining much of its traditional culture. In "Mixed Blessings: Intensive care for newborns" (Oxford 1986) she and her co-author Lynda Holmstrom explored the interactions and ethical dilemmas of parents, nurses and physicians in the care of 103 critically premature infants from admission to discharge. In the 1980s Guillemin joined her husband, Harvard biologist Matthew Meselson, in a series of investigations related to allegations of biological warfare and the misuse of biomedical science by government biological weapons programs. Analyzing a large set of interviews with refugees fleeing Laos into Thailand who claimed they had been attacked with "poison from the sky", the so-called yellow rain", she found no evidence for the constellation of symptoms cited by the US State Department as evidence for such attacks. This, together with an array of other evidence, made it clear that the yellow material falling from the sky was not a poison, but rather harmless feces from swarms of giant Asian honeybees (Scientific American, September 1985). In 1992, Guillemin, Meselson and a small team of Americans and Russians undertook an independent investigation of an April 1979 outbreak of anthrax in the Soviet city of Sverdlovsk, now Ekaterinburg. The Soviet government claimed the cause was consumption of infected meat. But interviews organized and in most cases conducted by Guillemin with the families and friends of 66 of those who died or fell ill allowed the construction of an epidemiological map showing that nearly all the victims worked or lived in a narrow zone exactly parallel to the wind direction on Monday April 2, 1979, decisively showing that the outbreak was caused by the release of an aerosol of anthrax spores emanating from a military facility in the city, as reported in Science 18 Nov 1984 and described in her book Anthrax: The Investigation of a Deadly Outbreak (California 1999). With a MacArthur Foundation writing award, she next wrote Biological Weapons: From State-sponsored Programs to Contemporary Bioterrorism (Columbia 2005), which provided a concise history of how the US, the Soviet Union and other nations developed anthrax and other microbes as strategic weapons. Renounced by President Richard Nixon in 1969, such weapons are now prohibited by the Biological Weapons Convention of 1972. After the 2001 anthrax letter attacks in the US, Guillemin wrote American Anthrax: Fear, Crime, and the Investigation of the Nation's Deadliest Bioterror Attack (Macmillan/Holt/ Times 2011), a detailed account of the attacks and the subsequent FBI investigation. Her most recent book, Hidden Atrocities: Japanese Germ Warfare and American Obstruction of Justice at the Tokyo Trial, (Columbia 2019), nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, describes Imperial Japan's use of biological weapons against China in the 1940s and its horrific experimentation on humans. Based on her extensive archival research, Guillemin found that Washington had ordered the evidence to be concealed from the Tokyo war crimes tribunal to protect the Emperor from defamation and to obtain information from those responsible, none of whom was ever brought to justice, that might be of use in the US biological weapons program. Born in Brooklyn, NY to James Philip and Mary Eileen (Harley) Garrigan, Jeanne moved with her family to Rutherford, New Jersey. Her 1963 marriage to American painter Robert Guillemin ended in divorce. She married Matthew in 1986. As a woman in what was largely a man's field and for many years a single mother of two sons, she nevertheless rose to distinction in her field. She and Matthew lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts and spent summers at Woods Hole, on Cape Cod where Jeanne maintained a lively salon of humanists and scientists. In Cambridge she took great pleasure in meetings with her writing group, a dedicated circle of five talented women writers who met monthly for 30 years. Jeanne and Matthew often visited Paris, where they had many good friends. Her gracious manner and dedication to the life of the mind caused those who knew her to be more humane, more civil, more thoughtful. Mind, heart, and beauty beyond compare. Jeanne is survived by her husband Matthew, her sons Robert (Jeannette) and John Guillemin and stepdaughter Zoe Meselson Forbes (Brian), her grandchildren Claire and Julia Guillemin, and Jake, Sam, and Jesse Forbes and her sisters and brother Patricia, Eileen and Russell Garrigan. This year, Guillemin established an endowment at the MIT Center for International Studies to provide financial support for women pursuing a PhD in international affairs intended to "help women graduate students find new options for special projects that will energize their sense of inquiry and search for knowledge." 

James F. Halpin (d. 2021)

The former associate dean and professor in the Carroll School of Management also served as rector of the Boston College Jesuit community
A funeral service was held on October 31 in St. Ignatius Church for James F. Halpin, a former associate dean and professor in the Carroll School of Management who also served as rector of the Boston College Jesuit community. Dr. Halpin died on August 18 at the age of 89.Jim HalpinJim Halpin (Harvey Egan, S.J.)
A Pennsylvania native who grew up in Waterbury, Ct., Dr. Halpin was interested in moral philosophy and ethics, and their relevance in many contexts. He entered the Jesuit order in 1949, and studied in Belgium, Spain, and Italy before being ordained. (He left the order in 1993.) He began a life of service in higher education in 1968 as a faculty member at the Weston School of Theology in Cambridge, where he taught Christian ethics.
In his homily for Dr. Halpin, former University Secretary Joseph Duffy, S.J., said Dr. Halpin’s qualities were readily apparent during his training as a Jesuit: “Early on, Jim developed a reputation as one whose views were respected, whose company was valued, whose leadership potential was recognized and nurtured.”
Dr. Halpin came to BC in 1971 as director of the University’s Program for the Study of Peace and War, which was created by students as a response to issues arising out of the Vietnam War. The program offered interdisciplinary courses through the Physics, Sociology, Political Science, History, Anthropology, Theology, and Philosophy departments, delving into wars across the centuries—from the Peloponnesian War to the American Civil War and World War I—and the nature of conflict itself, as well as studying concepts around defense and negotiation, and Christian thought on war.
In 1974, the program sponsored a conference for Boston parents and others affected by the crisis over court-ordered desegregation in the Boston Public Schools. Explaining the program’s interest in holding such an event, Dr. Halpin told BC's undergraduate newspaper The Heights "[it] has to do with peace and violence in the City of Boston: How do we overcome this problem?"
Well after his tenure with the Program for the Study of Peace and War, Dr. Halpin remained thoughtful about issues of conflict. In 1991, as the first Persian Gulf War flared, he spoke with the Boston College Biweekly about whether it met the standards of the Christian tradition of justifiable conflict, known as the Just War Theory.
“This is a theory, don’t forget, that was initiated in the fifth century and grew to maturity in the 16th or so,” he said. “It was much easier in Aquinas’ day to make distinctions and establish parameters of morality in war. It was easier to distinguish between combatants and non-combatants. War was a hand-to-hand enterprise, in which bows and arrows were aimed at particular individuals. With the sophisticated weapons we have today, it’s harder to measure proportionality, it’s harder to make those distinctions.”
Dr. Halpin also served as a chaplain at the University, and in this role he vigorously promoted BC’s formational mission. In a 1971 interview with The Heights—which depicted him as a busy man “always at a typewriter and answering endless telephone calls”—Dr. Halpin expressed concern about undergraduates who only focused on academics and extracurricular activities: "Let's face it, the University must be more than this; it must serve as a value center for those there, where students can look into themselves, figure out just who they are, and what they want to do with their lives."
He was a driving force behind the opening of a center for commuting students in Murray House on Hammond Street, which offered lectures, plays, a film series, receptions for speakers, parties, and socials, and provided rooms for studying or leisure. In the 1970s, he co-founded a campus alliance to foster greater awareness of the causes of and solutions to hunger, co-chaired a committee to establish a veterans’ affairs office at BC, and was part of a four-person team that taught a non-credit course intended to help students in being sexually responsible adults.
 A member of the Theology Department at first, Dr. Halpin later transferred to the Carroll School’s Operations and Strategic Management Department. Among other ethics-related courses, he taught Introduction to Ethics to first-year students—covering topics like moral development, cultural relativism and Kant’s Categorical Imperative—and a course in social responsibility to M.B.A. students. All the while, he provided counseling and assistance, showing a propensity to relate to students’ interests and well-being, for which he was affectionately called “Halps,” recalled Fr. Duffy: “Could they have been thinking it’s ‘Halps who helps’?’’”
In 2004, Dr. Halpin led a team of Carroll School undergrads to take part in the Dalhousie University Business Ethics Case Competition to be held in Halifax, Nova Scotia—the first American school that had been invited to participate in the event. The BC entry won.
"As a BC parent and as a friend, I witnessed first-hand Jim Halpin in his role as an advising dean in the Carroll School,” said Robert Frye, a former staff member in the BC Development Office whose son was an advisee of Dr. Halpin. “His commitment and concern for the whole person, the Jesuit concept of cura personalis, was evident to all who saw his interactions with BC students."
In 2007, Dr. Halpin and his Carroll School colleagues were elated at the school’s rise from 23rd to 14th in the Business Week rankings of undergraduate business school programs. A key factor cited in the improvement, according to administrators, was student satisfaction.
Interviewed by The Heights, Dr. Halpin said, "Our networking is outstanding. Faculty members and alumni themselves prepare jobs for students. We are very strong in Wall Street in terms of alumni. We have good rapport."
Ever mindful of his own formational experiences, Dr. Halpin believed business and management education benefits from exposure to the liberal arts tradition, as he told The Heights in 2010, two years before he retired.
“Liberal arts develops critical thinking abilities in a way business education does not. Whereas majors in business provide for career preparation, courses in the arts and sciences aid in personal development and thinking. If space in a schedule allows, I always encourage CSOM students to consider a second major or minor in a liberal arts field. There are just a multitude of benefits with the study of liberal arts that can assist one not only in their career, but in life.”

Peter Kugel (d. 2021)

Retired Professor Peter Kugel, a long-time member and former chair of the Computer Science Department who devoted much thought to the human dimension of computer technology, died on October 11. He was 91.
Befitting a scholar with a doctorate in philosophy from Harvard University who had worked in the software industry and at MIT before coming to Boston College in 1974, Dr. Kugel focused his research on the connections between human intelligence, logic, and computability. He summed up these interests in an abstract for a 2009 article: “I believe the human mind can evaluate functions so uncomputable that no machine, not even a hypercomputer, can compute them. But I believe that computers can evaluate such functions, too, because computers, like minds, have other ways to evaluate functions that go beyond computing. If we allow them to use these ways—or, as I shall put it, to uncompute—they may be able to do things that only minds can do well today.”
Earlier in his career, Dr. Kugel published an influential article on studying the process of induction—“by which we reason from the particular to the general”—using ideas from the theory of abstract machines and recursion theory. Another article offered suggestions on developing precise accounts of cognitive processes that could be modelled on computers.
He also was interested in how college teachers develop as teachers, and in 1989 published an op-ed piece in The New York Times that explained how bringing a cup of coffee to class helped him create a better rapport with his students.
“My pauses, as I sipped, not only gave my students time to think about what I had said, but gave me time to think about what I was going to say next,” he wrote. “I began to use my pauses to look around the room to see how my students were reacting to what I had just said. When I saw their attention wander, I tried to bring them back. When I saw them puzzled over some concept that I thought I had explained, I gave another example. My lectures became less organized and less brilliant, but my students seemed to understand me better. And my courses became more popular.”
Interviewed in 1989 by the Boston College Biweekly, Dr. Kugel—then the Computer Science chair—discussed how he and his colleagues made sure that the knowledge they passed along to their students was put to use.
“In computer science, you learn to do something by doing. We don’t simply lecture. We give students at least one assignment a week they must complete. And it’s not like doing an essay; a program has to work before your job is done.”
Dr. Kugel retired in 2005, but continued to write, teach, and learn. Among other activities, he took courses at the Harvard Institute for Learning in Retirement, where he taught a class titled “Vision and Art.”
A tribute posted on the Computer Science website recalled Dr. Kugel for “his wide-ranging interests and for his humor. He was an exceptional colleague and an especially generous mentor to both students and junior faculty colleagues.”
Dr. Kugel is survived by his wife, Judy, and sons Jeremy and Seth, who were all at his bedside when he died.

Mary E. Duffy (d. 2022)

This obituary from the Providence Journal was shared by Dottie Jones
Mary E. Duffy, 79, of Narragansett, RI, entered into eternal rest on Wednesday, March 30, 2022. Mary was born in Providence, she was the cherished daughter of Austin J. and Elizabeth J. (Neary) Duffy. She was the sister of the late Austin J. Duffy, Jr. and Joseph T. Duffy. She is also survived by her dear cousins Elizabeth A. Manning, Patricia A. Viera and Michaelyn A. Profio and several cousins and friends.Mary was a graduate of Blessed Sacrament School, St. Patrick's High School and Roger Williams Hospital School of Nursing she also graduated from Villanova University where she received her BSRN. She also graduated from Rutgers University with a Master's Degree in Psychiatric Counseling. She received her PhD from NYU's School of Graduate Nursing and her degree was in Nursing Research.She began her teaching career at the University of Texas – Austin and the University of Texas-Houston as an assistant professor. She later joined Boston College Graduate School as a professor in the doctoral program and Director of Nursing Research in the Connell School of Nursing. After retirement Mary also joined Mass. General as a senior nurse scientist in the Yvonne Munn Center of Nursing Research where she worked research studies and wrote many published books and articles. Research was her passion, and she wrote and published many articles and books in statistical measures in research.Mary leaves a legacy of knowledge, compassion and love for nursing to all who encountered her quality work in academia. Her life was full of travels to speak at various conferences and programs where she was often the keynote speaker.She had an affinity poor and underprivileged. She took care of many people anonymously.Her burial and funeral will be private. Her life will be celebrated at a memorial mass at a later date.

David Lowenthal (d. 2022)

Dearly beloved husband, father, friend, colleague, and teacher David Lowenthal, 99, passed away peacefully at his home in Princeton last Thursday, April 28, 2022. All those who knew David were deeply touched by his personal warmth, generous spirit, and mighty intellect. 
Born in Brooklyn to Rose and Jules Lowenthal, David is survived by his wife Sandra; children Laura, Harry, David, Richard and Mark Lowenthal; in-laws Ted and Janice Steeves; as well as several nieces and nephews. His sister, Ruth, predeceased him in 2015. David attended Brooklyn College and went on to graduate school at the New School for Social Research, garnering a Ph.D. there in 1953. 
A prominent scholar of Shakespeare, Lincoln, both ancient and modern philosophers, the First Amendment, the Constitution, and more, David was the author of several books including two books on Shakespeare (Shakespeare’s Thought and Shakespeare and the Good Life); one on Lincoln (The Mind and Art of Abraham Lincoln); as well as numerous articles and publications. His latest book, Slave State: Rereading Orwell’s 1984, came out only last October. He also published two small poetry books in recent years, an accomplishment that was particularly rewarding for David. He taught at several colleges, most notably Boston College from 1966-2000. He continued teaching from 2000- 2002 at Assumption College and then from 2003 – 2006 as adjunct Professor at College of the Holy Cross. His many honors included: President, New England Political Science Association; member of National Endowment for the Humanities; Halle Graduate Fellowship New School; d’Alzon Chair at Assumption; Grants from Ford and Earhart Foundations; Consulting Editor of journal Interpretation. David served in the U.S. Army Air Corps as a radar technician, flying 13 weather missions over Japan from Tinian with the 313th Bomb Group, 1944-45. 
An avid reader of philosophy and literature, he enjoyed Jane Austen and P.G. Wodehouse on the lighter side. His many and varied interests also included a love and appreciation of art, raising roses and gardening generally, and tennis (first playing, more recently watching). His family is convinced that the key to his longevity was a salutary diet of sauerkraut, pickled herring, and delicatessen (a hotdog with sauerkraut and mustard was a particular favorite). 

Peter Gottschalk (d. 2022)

Peter Gottschalk of Portland Oregon, age 78, died on March 25. He was Professor of Economics at Boston College from 1987 until his retirement from teaching, but not from research, in 2010. He also taught at Williams College, University of California, Santa Cruz, Mount Holyoke College and Bowdoin College. He was a Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn, Germany, a Research Associate at the Center for Retirement Research Boston College, and a Research Affiliate at both the Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP), at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the National Poverty Center (NPC), at the University of Michigan. For many years, he was a coorganizer or participant in the IRP Summer Research Workshop on low-income populations. Gottschalk was also a Visiting Scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation and a Visiting Fellow atthe Brookings Institution. He received his B.A. and M.A. from George Washington University and his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania.An eminent labor economist, Peter was among the first scholars to study the increasing inequality in wages and incomes in the U.S. He also focused on welfare dependency, earnings instability, job mobility and policies to increase employment and earnings of the disadvantaged. He was the co-author of America Unequal and co-editor of Uneven Tides: Rising Inequality in America and Generating Jobs and published articles in many leading journalsincluding the American Economic Review, the Journal of Political Economy, the Journal of Economic Literature, the Review of Economic Statistics, and the Journal of Human Resources. In addition to his extensive research and his collaborations with many economists, Peter found his greatest pleasure teaching and mentoring and publishing with his graduate students. Beyond his love of economics, Gottschalk was at various times inhis life a sailor and lover of wooden boats, a skier, a focused competitive veteran rower (single light weight scull), and until very  recently an enthusiastic rock climber despite his advancing Parkinson’s disease. His love of skiing and climbing were deeply connected to his time spent in and affection for the Chamonixregion of France. He is survived by Barbara, his wife of nearly 56 years, who was his partner in their sailing, skiing and climbing adventures and in travels across the globe and who shared his love of opera and dance. He is also survived by his loving daughter and son-in-law Julie and David Murphy and their children Lauren and Ryan.

Ken Craig (d. 2022)

Craig, Kenneth M. Professor, Boston College Of Ashland, died suddenly on August 1, 2022. He was a professor of the History of Art at Boston College for forty five years (1977-2022). Kenneth M. Craig inspired innumerable students to love the History of Art as much as he did. His love and enthusiasm for teaching Art History attracted many students to become Art History majors over the years. Not only was he a cornerstone of The Art, Art History, and Film Department, Professor Craig was a gifted, dedicated teacher, a "rock star" to his students as well as a generous, kind, principled, and wise colleague. Professor Craig liked to tell students that as an undergraduate at The Ohio State University, he was an English Literature major in the Pre-Medical Program (B.A. Cum Laude 1968). He was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa in 1968. Dr. Craig then attended The College of Medicine at The Ohio State University (1968-1969). However, his love of the History of Art which he had discovered in an undergraduate class caused him to change his plans. He left medical school and pursued an MA in The History of Art with a minor in Anthropology at The Ohio State University (1970). Next, Professor Craig went to Bryn Mawr College where he earned his PH.D in both The History of Art and Archaeology in 1979. Administrative appointments at Boston College included Director of Undergraduate Studies, Chairman of the Fine Arts Department and the Acting Director of the Boston College Gallery. Dr. Craig was President of the Boston College chapter of Phi Beta Kappa (2014-Present). His devotion to excellence was reflected in the attention and detail he brought to each induction ceremony which he hosted every year. Kenneth Mark Craig was born in Columbus, Ohio, May 18, 1946. He met his beloved wife Lida Scurlock Craig at The Ohio State University where they were both History of Art graduate students (he, Northern Renaissance and Baroque â€" she, Italian Renaissance and Baroque). He proposed to her within a month of meeting her and they were married 6 months later leading to 50 years and 11 months of marriage. Having received their graduate degrees from The Ohio State University, they moved to the Philadelphia area to pursue their next degrees. Dr. Craig PhD Bryn Mawr College and Mrs. Craig MLS Drexel University (Special Libraries-Art, Museum, Rare Books). Their next move would be Boston for Professor Craig's faculty position at Boston College. Both Art Historians loved their trips to expand their knowledge in art, history, and cultures. Dr. Craig took her to Belgium and Holland. She took him to Greece and England. Mrs. Craig began her study of the History of Art when she was a student at the University of Rome, Italy. In addition to his academics, Dr. Craig loved to garden and could always be found outside during the summer months taking photos of his prized flowers. Perhaps Dutch and Still-life flower paintings followed him outside to the garden. Professor Craig is survived by his loving wife, Lida Scurlock Craig, their beloved son, Dr. Winfield Scott Craig, a Professor of History in Texas and his wife Megan and his two grandsons, Easton and August. He is also survived by his brother Gary Craig. Professor Craig, a person of many talents and passions, will be forever missed by his beloved family Lida and Scott and by his second beloved family of Boston College students, colleagues, and community. 

Walt Haney (d. 2022)

Walter M.Haney Of Orleans, MA, formerly of Jamaica Plain and Westminster, MA, died August 31, 2022. He was predeceased by his beloved wife, Kristine (Votta) Haney; sister, Deborah (Haney) Batten; parents, Walter Judson Haney and Grace (Kelly) Haney Hill; as well as many very dear friends and colleagues. He is survived by his daughter, Elizabeth Haney and her husband, Michael Mirochnick; as well as his sister, Sarah Puterbaugh; and brother-in-law, David Batten.
Walter was effervescent, generous, kind, and a true character. He was accident prone and adventurous. Walter was born in Texas and raised in Michigan but lived most of his adult life in Massachusetts, getting degrees at Michigan State and Harvard along the way. He lived many lives, as a 13-year-old on-call bee swarm specialist for the East Lansing police, first mate on the sailing ship Brigantine Romance and International Voluntary Service volunteer.
When he was kicked out of IVS, Walt found work as a civil servant for the Royal Lao government. During this time off he photographed and interviewed many Laotian civilians who had survived the secret U.S. bombing of their fields and homes. Walt wrote about these bombings upon his return to the U.S., including in the Pentagon Papers. Walter happened to return to Laos in April 1975, and ended up helping friends and colleagues escape prior to the communist takeover.
Walter was also a school board member and long serving library trustee for the Town of Westminster. He served as a professor in the Boston College Lynch School of Education for over 30 years. He was an avid gardener and home horticulturist, reviving many friends' orchids over the years. He supplied many friends with Haney Honey from hives he tended, but also loved summers on the Cape, clamming, fishing, and making friends with neighbors. Walt was overjoyed that his work documenting bombing in Laos contributed both to congressional investigations and to the work of the nonprofit Legacies of War in bringing justice for those atrocities. He worked tirelessly on his teaching and research on testing and evaluation and was especially proud of his work to dismantle the myth of the Texas miracle in education, documenting systemic suppression of students of color in order to increase test scores. He was also proud of his work using drawings in educational evaluation, inspired by the drawings that refugees had done of the U.S. bombings in Laos. He was a loving father, husband, brother, son, uncle, teacher, and friend and will be sorely missed.
In lieu of flowers, please do any or all of the following: donate to and learn more about Legacies of War (legaciesofwar.org), contact your MA legislators to fully fund and implement the Student Opportunity Act to fund education equitably in MA or plant flowers anywhere you can, especially in places where the rules don't allow it. For more details on Walter's life and services, please visit tinyurl.com/whaney.

Fr. Michael Himes (d. 2022)

Widely respected Catholic theologian Rev. Michael J. Himes, a beloved faculty member at Boston College for almost three decades, died on June 10 at the age of 75.
From 1993 to 2021, Fr. Himes was a professor of theology at BC, where his teaching, preaching, and ministry became integral to many aspects of the Boston College experience. For more than a decade, he was one of the first members of the University community to greet incoming freshmen and parents as keynote speaker at summer orientation sessions. His hour-length talk, “What Makes a Great University?”, was often met with a standing ovation by both students and parents. 
Fr. Himes developed a vocational discernment framework called the “Key Three Questions” which has become woven into the fabric of reflection at Boston College.  The three questions: “What brings you joy? What are you good at? And who does the world need you to be?” also served as the foundation of many Boston College retreat programs, in particular, the Center for Student Formation’s “Halftime” retreat.
For many years, he preached at the weekly noon Mass on Wednesdays, filling St. Mary’s Chapel with students, faculty, and staff who sought his gifts as a homilist and remarkable ability to make the Gospel accessible from the pulpit.  In recognition of these gifts, he was invited to be the homilist at Boston College’s Sesquicentennial Anniversary Mass, celebrated at Fenway Park in front of a crowd of approximately 20,000.  His homily exhorted all Boston College educated students to “give away” the gift of receiving a BC education:
“The measure of the success of your education at Boston College is the measure to which people’s lives are richer, fuller, and more genuinely human because you did go to Boston College.”
Fr. Himes also delivered many well-attended public addresses during his time at Boston College, perhaps most notably as the inaugural speaker for the “Last Lecture Series” (2008) and as featured speaker at the Church in the 21st Century Center’s Agape Latte program, where he discussed family (2014) and hope (2016).
Fr. Michael Himes at the podiumAs a lecturer and professor of theology, Fr. Himes was known for his dynamic, animated lectures, quick wit, charitable sense of humor, and astounding ability to quote and synthesize great works of scholarship, all without notes.  He often said the key to being a great teacher is to “Love what you teach and to love who you teach,” and the immense popularity of his classes appeared to confirm the success of his approach, particularly his course, “The Problem of Belief in Modernity,” which scrutinized the most notable proponents and critics of faith to ultimately shape a foundation for responsible belief in Catholicism.
"Michael Himes was the model of a priest-professor who saw his teaching as central to his vocation," said Professor of Theology Stephen Pope. "Students were spellbound by his lectures and found in him someone who helped them come to see their own religious yearnings and spiritual aspirations in new and powerful ways."
In 2002, the BC chapter of Phi Beta Kappa selected him as Teacher of the Year.
In addition to courses co-taught with his dear friend and colleague, Michael J. Buckley, S.J. (the former faculty member and director of BC's Jesuit Institute who died in 2019), Fr. Himes regarded teaching alongside his beloved younger brother and fellow priest, BC Professor of Theology Kenneth Himes, O.F.M., as one of his life’s greatest blessings. Their offices were adjacent to one another in Stokes Hall, and they co-authored the book Fullness of Faith (1993), which explores the “public significance of theology” and was awarded the Catholic Press Association Book Award in 1994. 
Fr. Himes' other notable publications include Doing the Truth in Love: Conversations about God, Relatieonships, and Service (1995), Ongoing Incarnation: Johann Adam Möhler and the Beginnings of Modern Ecclesiology (1997), and the book and video series The Mystery of Faith: An Introduction to Catholicism (2004). He received honorary degrees from St. Joseph’s College, Molloy College, Sacred Heart University, Felician College, and Holy Cross College of Notre Dame.An avid reader and a scholar with many interests, Fr. Himes’ home was filled with an impressive collection of books and notable works across many disciplines.  According to his brother, Fr. Kenneth Himes, “Michael was a natural storyteller and public speaker. When we were growing up in Brooklyn, if it was a rainy day and we could not go outside to play, Michael would gather a bunch of us kids on the stairwell in our apartment building and amuse us with stories from Aesop, the Brothers Grimm, Walt Disney, or Arthurian legends. All his life he used that talent to entertain, to teach, to inspire others.”
Fr. Himes’ love for Boston College was well noted among members of the BC community.  When interviewed in 2021, shortly before his retirement, he shared this parting thought with the Boston College Chronicle in gratitude for his career on the Heights:
“Being a part of Boston College is not only a job or profession; it is a vocation.  It’s a lifelong project which one undertakes, not only for one’s self, but for all who will enter this ongoing conversation. At BC, we’re engaged in an ongoing conversation which enables us to come together as a community.  Central to Boston College is that it’s a place where people are giving themselves away to others, and in doing so, we become what is most valuable to say about being human.  We become the people who celebrate the reality of God—that God is pure and perfect self-gift. Boston College has given me rich frameworks and many opportunities to participate in conversation and for which I am profoundly grateful.”Prior to his time at Boston College, Fr. Himes taught at the University of Notre Dame from 1987 to 1993 and served as Dean of the Seminary of Immaculate Conception in Huntington, New York from 1977 until 1987.  He held a Ph.D. in the history of Christianity from the University of Chicago, and was ordained a priest in the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York in May of 1972. A native of Brooklyn, he is survived by his brother, Kenneth, and sister,  Eileen, as well as his nephew, Andrew E. Moschner, and his wife, Lauren M. Moschner. He is predeceased by his parents, Robert M. Himes and Mary V. Himes, née Gill.
John Walsh | University Communications | June 2022

Al Beaton (d. 2022)

Albert E. Beaton Jr., the inaugural Augustus C. Long Professor of Education at the Lynch School of Education and Human Development, and a former director of the Lynch School’s Center for the Study of Testing, Evaluation, and Educational Policy, or CSTEEP, died on March 8 at age 90.
A visitation service will be held at 10 a.m. on Wednesday at the James H. Delaney & Son Funeral Home in Walpole, Mass.  A Mass of Christian Burial will follow at 11:30 a.m. at St. Jude Church in Norfolk, and interment will be at Mount Benedict Cemetery in West Roxbury.
Dr. Beaton began his illustrious five-decade educational testing and teaching career as the managing director at Harvard University’s Littauer Statistical Laboratory in 1959 and an IBM Research Fellow after earning a bachelor of science degree in education from the State Teachers College at Boston and a master of education degree from Harvard University (he later received an Ed.D. from Harvard). While at the Educational Testing Service for 27 years, he held several senior research and data analytics positions at the world's largest private nonprofit educational testing and assessment organization.
After having taught at Boston College during 1960-1961, Dr. Beaton rejoined the faculty in 1990, and served as the director of CSTEEP for five years.  While Beaton headed CSTEEP, he directed a groundbreaking, six-year international research assessment of math and science curricula that evaluated student proficiency at three age levels. The project, known as the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), examined more than one million students from nearly 60 countries, including the United States, Russia, Japan, Hungary, Peru, Zimbabwe, and Korea, drawing considerable global interest from policy makers since the measurement of a country’s student achievement in mathematics and science is often considered a barometer for its potential economic status.
TIMSS was the largest global testing study ever undertaken, the most well-funded inquiry of its type, and served as a basis for reshaping math and science education worldwide.
Dr. Beaton was appointed the Augustus C. Long Professor in 2002, two years before he ended his BC teaching career. He was named the Augustus C. Long Professor Emeritus in 2005.
In October of 2006, Henry Braun, then the newly-named Boisi Professor of Education and Public Policy and Education Research, presented the 13th annual Boisi Lecture on Testing and Educational Policy in honor of Dr. Beaton, an unprecedented individual tribute in the history of the series. Braun said he was honored to have the opportunity to celebrate the life and work of Dr. Beaton, who had first recruited Braun for the ETS—the start of Braun’s 27-year career in research administration.
“I say this not only because of my respect and affection for Al, but also because there is no one else who has had such an impact on my professional life than Al Beaton.”
At the same event, Joseph M. O’Keefe S.J., then the Lynch School dean, said the lecture offered a venue not only to hear praise from Dr. Beaton’s colleagues, but to consider the issues that he cared so much about: top-rate scholarship and the issues of meaning and purpose.
“Al, certainly in his published works and projects, is without parallel,” said Fr. O’Keefe, now the first provincial of the USA East Province of the Society of Jesus.
Braun, hearing of Dr. Beaton’s death, remarked that his influence was both typical and atypical.
"Al Beaton was a pioneering computer scientist, a respected applied statistician, and a successful administrative director. Equally important, he was a fine and generous human being who, over a nearly 50-year career, had a substantial impact on scores of individuals, including me. It was typical in that Al took an interest in my career, and perhaps also atypical, since he had a profound influence on the next 42 years of my life.
“It is with a profound sense of gratitude that I remember Al as a mentor, colleague and friend. He certainly has left the world a better place than he found it. God rest his soul.”
Dr. Beaton contributed numerous articles to a variety of professional journals, and co-authored several publications pertaining to psychology and human assessment, and the National Assessment of Education Progress.  He served as the director of data analysis for the Educational Opportunity Survey Study, the National Longitudinal Study, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, and the International Mathematics and Science Study.
He was presented with the 1974 Wilcoxon Award from Technometrics, the 1987 Senior Scientist Award by the Educational Testing Service, the 1988 Triennial Award for Technical Contribution to Educational Measurement by the National Council on Measurement in Education, and the Senior Scientist Award from ETS.
Dr. Beaton is survived by Joan, his wife of 63 years, and his son, Douglas.  He was predeceased by his son, Albert Beaton III.

Robert Faulkner (d. 2023)

A passionate professor of political philosophy at Boston College Known as "Bob", passed away, on August 3, 2023, at 88, with his children at his side. A passionate professor of political philosophy at Boston College and a devoted husband, father and grandfather, Bob was predeceased by his beloved wife of 56 years, Margy. He is survived by his two grateful children and their spouses, Robert C. (Donald MacDonald) and Elizabeth (Kevin O'Halloran); and three adoring grandchildren, Chase, William and Margaret O'Halloran. Bob graduated near the top of his class from Dartmouth College, an experience he enjoyed immensely and where a spark ignited his deep interest in political philosophy. Subsequently, he won a Marshall Scholarship to Oxford and earned a PhD. at the University of Chicago under the teacher who would become his lifelong intellectual inspiration, Leo Strauss. He also met his lifelong partner, Margy, a fellow graduate student at Chicago. Professor Faulkner published multiple scholarly books, among them, "The Jurisprudence of John Marshall", "Richard Hooker and the Politics of a Christian England", "Francis Bacon and the Project of Progress" and "The Case for Greatness: Honorable Ambition and Its Critics". After a less-than satisfying stint as a professor at Princeton, he joined the faculty at Boston College in 1968, where he found and helped develop a community of colleagues who would bring him over 50 years of professional and personal fulfillment. He retired at age 81 as a Research Professor Emeritus, retaining his office and his engagement with students and colleagues. His intellectual curiosity and writings aside, he will be remembered for his character and his many contributions to individuals and communities. Nothing satisfied him more than attracting talent to his field and encouraging the curiosity of his students, so many of whom stayed in contact. Bob had a practice of writing to the parents of exceptional students, highlighting their talent and inspiring the student to pursue the field. By his colleagues, he was described as "full of good humor and grace, a steady hand through turmoil." He served as Department Chair and was actively engaged in nurturing the department and its members, many of whom were cherished friends until his death. As a measure of the community's respect for him, former BC President, Father J. Donald Monan, asked Bob to speak on behalf of the faculty at Fr. Monan's retirement ceremony. Ultimately, Bob loved people, and wanted the best for individuals of any stripe who were good souls. He attracted devotion from his gardener, contractor and neighbors as much as he did from students and colleagues. He would shock neighbors discussing politics by listening deeply and engaging in lengthy conversation. He conducted Shakespeare reading groups with interested neighbors, to their and his delight. The young children of the neighborhood would shriek with laughter and glee as he would practically roll around on the grass playing with them before sending them, all riled up with grass stains on their clothes, back to their parents. For his children, he nurtured their individual interests with commitments of time, and their education with sacrifices to send them to excellent schools and most of all, unwavering commitment and love. He was both forgiving and able to ask forgiveness of his children. Most of all, Bob set an example for integrity, pursuit of deep personal fulfillment in life and the ability to navigate difficult times with optimism, candor and fearlessness. Born in Western New York, he lost his mother when he was 12 and his father when 22, and had no self-pity for the fact. He finished life with complete lucidity about his impending death and showed only grace and eagerness to connect with loved ones while he could, engaging in candid final conversations with dozens of people in his final days, including each of his grandchildren. Less than 24 hours before his death, able to speak but a word, he requested champagne, making the most of the moment with loved ones. He died as he lived. He will be missed by many. 

Jeffery Byers (d. 2023)

Professor of Chemistry Jeffery A. Byers, an award-winning researcher in sustainable chemistry who strived to inspire both budding college- and high school-age scientists, died on August 18. He was 45.
Dr. Byers, who joined the Boston College Chemistry Department in 2011, focused his research on novel or underdeveloped organotransition metal chemistry and its catalytic application to useful processes in the fields of organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry, and materials science. A major area of interest in his laboratory was the development of new synthetic techniques for the production of novel copolymers useful as traditional engineering polymers, biodegradable polymers, or polymers useful for biomedical applications.
As he explained in a 2015 interview with the Boston College Chronicle, such polymers could be strong enough to be used in everyday products such as plastic bottles. The process could ultimately help reduce the paper products waste stream and reduce the harmful environmental impacts of less degradable plastic products, he said.
Another area of interest for Dr. Byers and his team was the development of cross coupling reactions involving earth-abundant transition metal catalysts that are less expensive and toxic than state-of-the-art catalysts, and the use of transition metal catalysts to formic acid and/ or methanol—a process that would provide a means to store and transport hydrogen, a leading candidate to replace fossil fuels as a sustainable and renewable energy source.
Dr. Byers’ work earned him coveted honors: In 2015, he received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award—the agency’s most prestigious grant for junior faculty—and Cottrell Scholar Award from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement, America’s second-oldest foundation and the first devoted wholly to science. In 2017, the American Chemical Society selected Dr. Byers for its PMSE Young Investigator Award.
“The research is a little bit off the beaten path,” he told Chronicle upon announcement of the CAREER award. “So it’s been challenging to convince people we can do what we do, but people see what we’ve accomplished so far and this grant provides some validation for our approach. I’m excited to see where this takes us.”
Through a $1.8 million award from the NSF Center for Chemical Innovation, Dr. Byers and fellow Chemistry Professor Dunwei Wang joined a team of scientists to form the NSF Center for Integrated Catalysis. Its goal is to develop the fundamental chemistry to achieve the synthesis of sequence-defined polymeric materials from pools of abundant feedstocks in a single reactor using spatially separated and switchable catalysts. The expected scientific impact of this project will reach the catalysis community and chemical industry with applications based on a new paradigm in chemical catalysis.
Along with his accomplishments as a researcher, Dr. Byers was equally respected as a teacher and mentor who sought to encourage young people to study the sciences. Among the courses he taught were Honors Modern Chemistry and Honors Organic Chemistry, both part of a program to introduce talented STEM students to concepts in general, organic, and biochemistry. He also was on the faculty committee for BC’s Beckman Scholars fellowship program, which supports outstanding undergraduate students in the sciences.
Reflecting on his undergraduate years shortly before his 2014 graduation, David Cote cited Dr. Byers as one of the faculty members who had an impact on his BC education: “I learned so much in his lab and gained invaluable experience that will help me in my future endeavors. His was one of my favorite and most intellectually challenging classes, and he kindly wrote my recommendation for my medical school application. He was really invested in my success and I appreciate all that he has done for me.”    
When graduate student Ashley Biernesser was selected for an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship in 2013, she noted in a Chronicle interview that Dr. Byers had encouraged her to revise and resubmit her application after NSF reviewers gave her positive comments last year. Another NSF fellowship winner, Julia Curley ’16, said that working in Dr. Byers’ lab, “I learned how to be a scientist and that’s where I learned I wanted to pursue graduate studies in chemistry.”
Dr. Byers and departmental colleague Professor Eranthie Weerapana also established a pre-collegiate summer institute for high school students, known as “P2P: Paper to Plastics.” The eight-week program brings high school students, predominately those underrepresented in the sciences, to campus for a program that combines mentoring, research, career exploration, and college preparation. P2P offers participants an opportunity to work closely with undergraduates, who guide them through the technical aspects of the research and serve as role models to encourage considering careers in science and technology.
“Everyone in the department will miss Jeff’s affectionate passion for chemistry,” said Wang, the department chair. “As a knowledgeable chemist whose expertise extends across the subfields of inorganic, organic, and polymer chemistry, Jeff always had great answers to all questions. In classrooms and beyond, his dedication to his students was a palpable force. In addition to working tirelessly to modernize our curricula at all levels, he was a devoted advocate for underrepresented students. As a collaborator, he was the best colleague you can ask for: Keen, passionate, hardworking, and masterful in communicating his science. It was him who led me to the wonderful concept of sustainable plastics.
“To us all, his passing was just too soon; there is so much we would like to accomplish together with him.”
Associate Professor of Chemistry Jia Niu, who collaborated with Dr. Byers, said, “As an extremely talented scientist, Jeff's fundamental contributions span a diverse array of research domains within chemistry. His impact extends to areas such as organometallic chemistry employing earth-abundant metals, the advancement of biodegradable and sustainable plastics, and the innovation of highly efficient transition-metal catalysts achieved through molecular encapsulation. These remarkable achievements have not only reshaped the landscape of chemical science but have also served as inspirations among fellow researchers and engineers, motivating them to tackle these crucial challenges in science and for our society.
“On the personal level, you cannot ask for a better colleague and friend than Jeff. He consistently radiated support and encouragement to those around him. Jeff's passing is devastating: The world lost an unparalleled chemist, and we have lost a great friend and colleague.”
A native of Las Cruces, NM, Dr. Byers received a bachelor of arts degree in chemistry Washington University in St. Louis and a doctorate in inorganic chemistry from the California Institute of Technology. He completed his training with a postdoctoral position in organic chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Dr. Byers’ professional honors, appointments, and memberships included the Sigma Xi Scientific Research Honor Society and American Chemical Society.
Dr. Byers is survived by his wife, Crystal Shih Byers; his mother, Eleanor; sisters, Vickie Byers and Jennifer Masters; and nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his father, John Byers.

Dale Herbeck (Died 2023)

HERBECK, Dale Alan On October 26, 2023, Dale Herbeck, 65, of Medfield, MA, died unexpectedly while out enjoying a walk.Dale was a kind and thoughtful husband, stepfather, son, brother, uncle, cousin and so much more. He was an exceptional scholar, teacher and leader in the field of communication studies. He was a beloved friend, family member and award-winning educator who will be dearly missed by many.Born in Chicago, IL, on June 14, 1958, to Delbert and Virginia Herbeck (Gerke), Dale grew up outside of Dayton, OH. In 1976, he graduated from Fairmont West High School, where he began his lifelong interest in speech and debate. In 1980, he graduated from Augustana College in Rock Island, IL with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies and Political Science. In 1988, Dale graduated from the University of Iowa in Iowa City, IA, with a Ph.D. in Communication Studies.In 1985, Dale started his academic career on the faculty of the Communication department at Boston College, where he was a professor and debate coach before becoming department chair. In 2012, Dale joined the faculty of Northeastern University as chair of the Communication Studies department. He was well-regarded by colleagues, and especially students, many of whom have kept in touch with him over the years as they progressed in their studies and careers. In 2022, after 10 years as department chair, Dale returned to the faculty to focus on his teaching and writing.In August of 1997, he married Edie (Haffenreffer) Simmers and they moved to Medfield, MA with her son Brett. He lived in Medfield for over 25 years, spending his free time cooking, writing and playing golf with friends. He was an avid supporter of the Green Bay Packers, often watching their games while wearing his custom "Herbeck" jersey. He enjoyed many Red Sox games at Fenway Park with his longtime friend and colleague John Katsulas, occasionally bringing Brett along and teaching him the intricacies of baseball scorekeeping. He loved being a doting uncle to Sofie through many shared adventures.Over his 38 years as an academic, Dale won many honors and awards for his teaching and scholarship, including recognition by the National Communication Association, the American Forensic Association and the Commission on Freedom of Expression. He published many editions of a popular textbook, Freedom of Speech in the United States, was the author of dozens of book chapters and peer-reviewed articles and edited numerous professional journals. Dale is survived by his wife, Edie; his stepson, Brett; his parents, Delbert and Virginia; and his brother, James and his wife, Susan; and their child, Sofie. He is also survived by many loving cousins, aunts, uncles, friends, colleagues, students and mentees.Following a private Burial, all are welcome to pay their respects and Celebrate Dale's Life at a Memorial Service on Saturday, November 4, at 10 AM, at the George F. Doherty & Sons Funeral Home, 1305 Highland Ave. NEEDHAM, MA. In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate donations in Dale's name to Heifer International or the National Prison Debate League, organizations that he supported for many years.

Richard Gaillardetz (Died 2023)

Renowned ecclesiologist Richard R. Gaillardetz, the Joseph Professor of Catholic Systematic Theology at Boston College and an award-winning theologian and author, died on November 7, 2023. His death comes 20 months after being diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. He was 65.
Dr. Gaillardetz was a respected and preeminent voice in the interpretation and reception of Vatican II and questions of authority in the Catholic Church. He was the author/co-author of nine books, editor of six others, and author of more than a 100 articles and book reviews. He was also a popular public speaker, addressing theological and pastoral conferences throughout the world.
His book Teaching with Authority: A Theology of the Magisterium of the Church, is a standard text in its field and has remained in print for a quarter century. An expert on ecumenical councils, Gaillardetz’s Keys to the Council: Unlocking the Teaching of Vatican II (co-authored with Catherine Clifford) presents a less intimidating and more accessible introduction to the vision of the Vatican II. His other notable works include By What Authority? Foundations for Understanding Authority in the Church and An Unfinished Council: Vatican II, Pope Francis, and the Renewal of Catholics. His publications have received numerous awards from both the Catholic Press Association and the Association of Catholic Publishers.
“Within the department, with our colleagues, staff, undergraduate, and graduate students, as well as within our University, the academy, and the Church, Professor Richard Gaillardetz shared his great love and passion for the present and the future of the Church, and for the not-yet fully realized contributions of the Second Vatican Council,” said Theology Department Chair Andrea Vicini, S.J., the Walsh Professor of Bioethics. “With heartfelt gratitude, we will greatly miss him and strive to continue his theological work.”
“I don’t think anyone would deny that Rick was the most accomplished ecclesiologist in the English-speaking world,” said Professor of Theology Stephen Pope. “He was immensely respected for his work ethic and intelligence."
"Rick was brilliant and prolific," said Professor of Theology Boyd Taylor Coolman. "He wrote about and for the Church, which he loved deeply and served faithfully. His great scholarly gift was to be an effective, compelling communicator of sophisticated theological ideas to a wide audience, that both satisfied specialists and stimulated non-specialists."
“Rick was a spectacularly good teacher," Pope added. "His high standards could intimidate students, but he would go out of his way to help students meet those standards, whether they were struggling to understand the material better or to write better. He could teach anyone—from a first-year undergraduate to a Ph.D. student.”
Dr. Gaillardetz was remembered for his impactful leadership as Theology Department Chair from 2016 to 2022.
"As Chair, Rick was a model of dedication, strength, and humility," said Professor of Theology Catherine Cornille, who holds the Newton College Alumnae Chair. "Though a larger-than-life personality, he was also extremely sensitive and caring about the well-being and flourishing of every member of the department."
"Rick had a vision for the mission of the department, as well as a concern for the well-being of all the individual faculty members, especially those who felt marginalized, or underappreciated, or burnt out," said Coolman. "He took the initiative on both fronts, not through imposition or coercion, but by invitation and persuasion."
"As department chair he worked tirelessly for the common good of the department and, as much as he could, for the good of everyone in it," added Associate Professor of Theology Jeremy Wilkins, director of the Lonergan Center. 
Dr. Gaillardetz was also known for his fondness for cooking, golfing, and playing racquetball—each approached with his characteristic intensity. He was a passionate fan of the University of Texas Longhorns and the Texas Rangers, who won their first World Series days before his passing.
“Whatever Rick did, he put his heart and soul into it. Rick could be very formidable and intensely focused,” Pope noted, “but he had the ability to laugh at himself. There was a real humility in him.”
Pope noted Dr. Gaillardetz's competitiveness was matched in equal parts with his compassion and intentionality in cultivating deep friendships. 
"Rick's chief virtue was friendship," said Wilkins, who credited Dr. Gaillardetz with initiating a friend group with others on campus. "Rick was a true friend. He wanted to do right by everyone."
"Rick showed his friends what friendship can really be, and why the art of friendship is in fact a spiritual art. Ever eager for joyous companionship, he also knew how to depend upon his friends in times of need," said Associate Professor of Theology Brian Robinette.
Coolman called him a "helluva friend" who is "already achingly missed."
In their remembrances, many friends noted his singular devotion to his wife, Diana, and their four sons. "Rick was one of the best family men I’ve ever known," said Pope, adding that he and Diana would would open their home to graduate students and colleagues who needed a place to go at the holidays.
“Rick was a person of deep Christian and Catholic faith," Pope added. "That's what drove everything he did professionally and personally. His faith made him hopeful.”
Dr. Gaillardetz and colleagues Thomas Groome and Richard Lennan from the BC School of Theology and Ministry co-chaired a faculty seminar on “Priesthood and Ministry for the Contemporary Church,” which undertook a scholarly, practical, and ecclesiastical examination of the priesthood and ministry. After two years of meetings, the group issued a document, “To Serve the People of God,” that outlined the essence of the priestly ministry. The document was the basis of a 2020 conference held at Boston College that involved cardinals, bishops, seminary rectors, ordained and lay ministers, and scholars. At the conclusion, a formal communique was issued that outlined 10 pastoral recommendations to expand existing ecclesial ministries and explore new models for ordained ministry. The seminar’s project culminated in the publication of Priestly Ministry and the People of God, a book of essays from a variety of voices who put forth their best hopes for the future of the priesthood. Dr. Gaillardetz served as a co-editor and contributor, along with Groome and Fr. Lennan.
In the book, Dr. Gaillardetz highlighted the flaws in the existing system for forming priests. “Our current vocational system is constructed more to discern impediments to ordination than the existence of a charism or aptitude for the exercise of genuine pastoral leadership or pastoral ministry of any kind.”
“Rick was a person of enormous energy and wonderful creativity as a theologian,” said Fr. Lennan. “Rick's work on the theology of church and ministry has enriched significantly the life of the ecclesial community in the United States and beyond. As a teacher, Rick was a skilled communicator, able to express complex ideas in a clear and compelling way that invited his hearers into conversation. Rick exemplified, in many ways, the attributes proper to ‘love for the Church’: he was neither romantic nor apologetic but always deeply committed to the realization of a Church characterized by faith, openness to conversion, and ways of living that embody all that it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.”
In September 2022, the University hosted a conference to celebrate the legacy of Dr. Gaillardetz as a scholar, teacher, and mentor. Hundreds of theologians and former students gathered on campus for the event, titled “New Directions in Ecclesiology: The Contributions of Richard Gaillardetz.” The conference included an address by Dr. Gaillardetz, one he dubbed his last lecture, on “Loving and Reforming a Holy yet Broken Church.”
In his talk, Dr. Gaillardetz encouraged his colleagues to continue the work of “meaningful and lasting ecclesial reform” and to seek out a middle path between over-critiquing the Catholic Church as an institution and being over-trustful of its leaders, especially after the clergy sexual abuse scandals, according to coverage of the conference in National Catholic Reporter.
“Our church today is paying the price for our failure to maintain a reflective equilibrium. We are becoming divided into two camps, those who embrace the tradition, whole cloth, as a reality that stands beyond critique, and those whose sweeping denunciations leave us only a few salvageable fragments of a largely failed tradition,” he said.
In perhaps his most profound and final act as teacher and friend, he invited others to follow his illness journey via a blog he kept. His posts touched upon both the personal and the medical, all shared through a decidedly Catholic, Christian, and faith-filled lens. 
"In addition to his important work in the area of ecclesiology, he will also be remembered for the spiritual wisdom he imparted in sharing the experience of his final journey," said Cornille.
"A teacher to the end, his best lesson for all of us was the way he practiced the art of dying well," added Wilkins.
Dr. Gaillardetz was born and raised in a military family and spent much of his youth traveling, an experience he credited with the development of a lifelong appreciation for the diversity of people.
He received a B.A. in humanities from the University of Texas-Austin, an M.A. in biblical theology from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, and both an M.A. and Ph.D. in systematic theology from the University of Notre Dame.
He joined the Boston College Theology Department in 2011. Immediately prior to joining BC, Dr. Gaillardetz was the Margaret and Thomas Murray and James J. Bacik Professor of Catholic Studies at the University of Toledo. He also taught at the University of St. Thomas Graduate School of Theology at St. Mary’s Seminary in Houston.
Dr. Gaillardetz was a member and past president of the Catholic Theological Society of America, the largest professional association of Catholic theologians in the world. He was also a member of the American Academy of Religion and the College Theology Society. He was the recipient of the Yves Congar Award for Theological Excellence from Barry University and the Sophia Award from the Washington Theological Union for theological excellence in service of ministry.
Earlier this year, he received an honorary doctorate from Oblate School of Theology, a Catholic graduate school for theological studies in San Antonio, Texas.
He is survived by his wife, Diana, who graduated from the BC School of Social Work in 2022, their sons David, M.S.W. ’16, M.A. ’19; Andrew; Brian ’17; and Gregory ’19, and grandson, Elliot.