The campus community mourns the passing of John Murphy, 91, who died Thursday, Oct. 10. John retired as professor emeritus of English after 28 years of service to Bucknell.
John’s colleagues fondly remember him as a lively conversationalist, passionate teacher and scholar, and energetic biker. He was an unfailingly kind and supportive mentor to his many junior colleagues. He loved sharing his enthusiasm for his own field, British Romanticism, and was also eager to learn about new disciplinary approaches and methods. Even a few short years before retirement, John immersed himself in literary theory, becoming an avid participant in the Mellon Seminars that the department hosted in the early 1990s.
I encourage you to visit our In Memoriam site to share personal notes of sympathy and remembrance with others.
On behalf of our entire University community, I extend our deepest sympathies to John’s family and to all who knew him at Bucknell.
John C. Bravman
President
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John Vincent Murphy, 91 and 363 days old of Lewisburg, Pennsylvania passed away peacefully on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, at his home surrounded by his family.
John was born in Chicago then moved to Michigan. After graduating from High School, he enlisted in the Navy during the Korean War. After two years of service, he attended college and worked his way to earning a PHD. He joined the English Department at Bucknell University in 1968 and, after a successful teaching career, retired in 1994.
He is survived by his beloved wife Danielle; their children Paulette, Corinne and her husband Brian, Laurie ’90 and her husband John, Pierre and his wife Lili, and his grandchildren Leo, Luc, Tess, Celine and Sophie.
A memorial service in celebration of his life will take place at a later date.
In lieu of flowers, you can donate to your favorite charity on John’s behalf.
John’s retirement is the reason I am at Bucknell as my wife Ghislaine was hired to be the Romanticist in the English department after he left. He could not have been nicer or more welcoming to us – Godpseed to a good soul . . .
Irrepressible, indefatigable, and sometimes inexplicable in his interests and enthusiasms, whether for books or people, John Murphy made me feel wholly welcome at Bucknell and at his home from the moment I arrived (in 1993). Unfailingly generous with his time and attention, John came to my classes (week after week) and listened to me droning on with preternatural good humor, gentle criticism, and encouragement. Like Shelley, he was forever young, forever scaling the heights of Mont Blanc, if only in imagination. I shall remember his kind face and sunlit personality with great affection. – Greg Clingham