South Bend, Ind., Jan 29, 2010 / 17:57 pm
The well-loved Notre Dame professor and scholar Ralph McInerny passed away Friday morning at 7:45 a.m. at the age of 80. First Things editor Joseph Bottum reported McInerny's death in an article on the magazine's website on Friday afternoon.
In his article, Bottum reprinted a letter sent to him on Friday by Associate Professor Christopher Kaczor at Loyola Marymount who was one of McInerny's students. Prof. Kaczor describes the late academic's life accomplishments as well as his personal relationship with him.
Ralph McInerny had retired from the philosophy department at the University of Notre Dame as the Michael P. Grace Professor of Medieval Studies after serving in that position since 1955, said Prof. Kaczor.
“He wrote wrote more than 40 books in philosophy and other disciplines (including poetry), authored thousands of scholarly and general audience articles, edited three national magazines, authored more than 80 mystery novels (including the Father Dowling Mysteries), and I’m confident directed more dissertations than anyone in the history of Notre Dame,” wrote Prof. Kaczor.