DURKIN, Joseph T(homas) 1903-2003

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born May 17, 1903, in Philadelphia, PA; died of pneumonia May 31, 2003, in Washington, DC. Priest, educator, and author. Durkin was a longtime history professor at Georgetown University. He earned his undergraduate and master's degrees at Boston College in 1928 and 1930 respectively, and then began teaching at Loyola High School in Baltimore during the late 1920s. He studied theology at Woodstock College in Maryland and was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1933; he then completed his Ph.D. in history at Fordham University in 1942. After teaching history at the University of Scranton from 1942 to 1944, Durkin joined the faculty of Georgetown University in 1944, where he helped establish the American studies program and remained until his 1972 retirement. Although officially retired, Durkin continued to advise and tutor young scholars well into his nineties. A treasured mentor to many of his students, Durkin was also a prolific author and editor, publishing over two dozen books in his lifetime, including Armorer of the Confederacy, Secretary Mallory (1960), Alexis Carrel, Savant Mystique (1969), and The Maryland Jesuits, 1634-1833 (1976). At the time of his death, he was working on two more books, one about the relationship between science and poetry and the other on rhetoric.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Washington Post, June 3, 2003, p. B6.

ONLINE

Hoya (Georgetown University), http://www.thehoya.com/ (June 3, 2003), Amanda McGrath, "Father Joseph Durkin Dies at Age 100."