BELCHERTOWN - Joseph T. Skerrett, emeritus professor of English at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, died unexpectedly at his Belchertown home on July 25th.

Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1943, Professor Skerrett was educated at St. Francis College, Johns Hopkins University and Yale University.

At UMass, he directed the American Studies program and published research about Afro American literature and culture. Professor Skerrett played a leading role in MELUS, a national academic association that focuses on multi-ethnic literature of the United States. He served as editor-in- chief the associations' quarterly journal.

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Published by Daily Hampshire Gazette on Jul. 31, 2015.

Memories and Condolences
for Joseph Skerrett

43 Entries

Pat and Angel Colón

July 25, 2025

To Diane and all the Skerrett family,
Joe is ever fresh and vivid in our memories, and always in our hearts. We send warmest well wishes to all.

God bless, Pat and Angel Colón

Pat Colón

December 14, 2024

Dearest Joe! How we miss you. Christmas 2024 is coming, and you are in our thoughts and hearts more than ever. You still enrich our lives.
Bless us. Pat Colón and all the family - Angel, Becket, Deirdre, St.John, and Aisling.

Deirdre Ross

July 25, 2020

I received an email reminder of this anniversary. It is sad to know that Joe is no longer on this planet. I wonder where we go... Love to all.

Michael Burts Sr.

May 9, 2016

I had not known of Joe's passing u til just now. He was inspirational in introducing me to classical music and educational studies at UMASS in the 80s. He removed me from NYC and introduced me back to rural living. May his departure from life leave a gift of knowledge and love that lasts for life of us all.

John Rooney

March 25, 2016

Until reading all that goes before, I had not been aware of the vastness of Joe's influence. So glad we connected at SFC's 2014 Commencement, as Golden Oldies of the Class of '64. He makes me proud!

Batya Weinbaum

September 25, 2015

Yes, Joe was a much loved professor, mine for sure! I am trying to write a piece for the next MELUS conference , "Dancing with Joe," using the metaphor of the Charleston to capture how much this wonderfully patient, supportive person humbled me, captured my attention, taught me so much, and actually altered the course of my life. I don't say that about many people! I enjoyed hearing the stories of friends, family, colleagues and other students and members of such a charmed community at the Amherst memorial, and felt very privileged indeed to be there.

Brian O'Toole

September 24, 2015

So sorry to hear About Joe. I was a classmate,same year and we talked quite often. There are very few classmates I remeber after 50 plus years but I still can remember his face after all this time. A wonderful human being and he will be missed.

Angel Colon

August 26, 2015

My dear friend Joe Skerrett has died, and I will miss his massive frame shaking in laughter, jiggling like a misaligned gyroscope, at something he has perceived as silly. Joe and I both nurtured our minds at St. Francis, me just two years ahead of him. Those were heady years, full of questions, dialectical murmurings, Frank Macchiarola's dirigible society, Franciscan brothers who made our heads spin, and a worldly brick campus on Butler Street. But Joe left us all behind. He was a true polymath who could speak and understand prose and poetry, music, art, history, philosophy, language in short everything but science which he eschewed with a dismissive philological passion. I forgave him for his absciencia and went on to do medicine. Frank too forgave him and did law. Joe, true to spirit received graduate degrees in literature from Hopkins and Yale, ending up as a professor of English at UMass in Amherst. There he nourished his soul in the rhetoric, logic and grammar the trivium he engaged with his students. He was a loved professor and respected faculty. He was honored by St. Francis with an honorary D Litt. And, he was godfather to my daughter Aisling.
At home, Joe loved to cook, and many a gourmet meal was shared with his friends, always with much laughter. His garden was a favorite escape and his little house in Belchertown a summer showplace of blossoms. But best of all were the nights when we all sank into an old sofa, put the world on pause and behind its back, gossiped about space station earth, its troubles, its fixes and its promises. For in the end Joe always thought we would survive it all like Wilder, By the Skin of Our Teeth.
I shall miss Joe, his sardonic wisdom, the humor by which he took nothing seriously, and his constant advice to enjoy what there is enjoy it all.

Bob Sheehan

August 13, 2015

Thanks to the Alumni Office at SFC, I heard about Joe's passing. Couldn't believe it. He was a regular at the alumni dinners which, sadly, are no more. A funny guy and a real gentleman.; He never bragged about how smart he was. May he enjoy eternal life.

Hermine PINSON

August 12, 2015

My husband Don and I had the pleasure of having dinner with Prof. Skerrett during the last Callaloo conference at Brown University. We surely enjoyed the opportunity to break bread with this gentleman and scholar. We will miss him.

Diane Skerrett

August 12, 2015

My brother JT introduced me to the theatre, TRIED to introduce me to worthy literature, fine art and classical music. I was resistant, but he never stopped trying ((-: Such a good brother!! I will miss him forever, but I know he will always be in my heart.

Diane Skerrett

August 11, 2015

My brother JT ...he introduced me to the theatre, TRIED to introduce me to worthy literature, fine art and classical music. I was resistant, but he never stopped trying.When I went to visit I would always say I was going to MA to get my yearly dose of culture. I thank you for it all!! You will be in my heart forever.

JT, Diane and Alan

Missy Bonner

August 11, 2015

I met JT through his sister, Diane. A nicer man could never be found. RIP JT!

Jerry Hannon

August 10, 2015

I still find it hard to believe the shocking news of Joe's passing. We had just reconnected a few months ago, on Facebook, after 51 years. After graduation from St. Francis College, Joe had gone on to graduate school, and I, one class behind him, had subsequently gone on to Navy Officer Candidate School and then a guided missile cruiser off Vietnam. Out lives divided at that point. We had a great little group at SFC, including Joe, and his SE Queens chum Bobby Abrami, with whom I was delighted to get back in contact last year. Joe was not only brilliant but had a magnificent sense of humor, and our gang of six generally found a lot of humor in our surroundings. I believe it was Joe who named our dome(-ish) skylight in our new building on Remsen Street "the Eleanor Roosevelt Memorial Dome" because, in his words, it let in liberal amounts of sunlight. He was a beautiful person, and I will personally miss him.

Joan Renee, Then and Now

Joan Renee Cartwright

August 10, 2015

Although we didn't see each other much since our youthful days, JT, you were always like a brother to me. May you rest in divine peace, always. Love, Renee

Marco Portales

August 10, 2015

Joe was loved and appreciated by people who knew him. He was generous, kind, and had a great talent for understanding and connecting with many different kinds of people that he met and turned into friends. He was a good, reliable friend and I will miss him, like many of us MELUS colleagues.

Sharon Jessee

August 10, 2015

Joe was my mentor for many years of grad. work and early academic career. I loved seeing him at conferences. I will miss him dearly.

Ron Welburn

August 10, 2015

Although we, his colleagues, knew Joe experienced health issues, losing him so suddenly came as a profound shock. Joe and I were on a NEMLA panel with Joe Bruchac of the Greenfield Review Press in the early 1970s. MELUS was brand new and Joe was one of the first members Katherine Newman (of West Chester State), recruited. How fitting and appropriate it was for him to eventually become its guiding spirit! He had faith in serious scholarship pushing the envelope of multi-ethnic theory and study, and he assigned book reviews accordingly. I thank Joe Skerrett yet again for recommending me to the UMass English department which I joined in 1992. He championed a broad swath of American literary studies thinking and was a sincere advocate for graduate students. And his keen insights about university administration and governance affecting the lives of all students and our department were cherished in and beyond our department meetings. Rest well, my friend!

Martin Collins

August 9, 2015

I lost a good, good friend who was always a pleasure to talk to and at the same time, Joe was one of the most interesting and nicest persons I ever met. May He Rest In Peace.

Keith Byerman

August 8, 2015

Rest in Peace, my friend.

Amritjit Singh

August 8, 2015

I met Joe first in the early 1970s at the beginnings of MELUS before I went back to India in 1974 to live and work there for nine years. We were not much in touch while I was in India. Returning to the US in 1983, I got drawn into the MELUS family once again a larger and more confident group by then. When the journal MELUS moved from Cincinnati to Amherst, Joe invited me to serve as the Book Reviews Editor of the journal and I worked with him in that role for 13 years (1986-1999). In the early 1990s, Bob Hogan, Joe and I began work on two coedited books on uses of Memory in to Ethnic American Literatures and for a couple of years we would meet for long sessions on Saturdays or Sundays in Belchertown or Providence. Joe was a man of quiet humor and dignity and he maintained the highest standards as editor and scholar. He loved cooking and gardening. I have so many memories of dinners, panels and travel with Joe over the years. Particularly memorable is our visit with Katharine Newman in December 1994 in San Diego. Most recently, Fred Gardaphe, Houston Baker, SallyAnn Ferguson, Joe and I all had a good time together at the Pittsburgh MELUS conference. We recently became friends on Facebook and having returned to Ohio on July 4 from a Fulbright year in India, I was getting ready for another of our long phone chats. Sadly he took off for his final flight before that could happen. RIP, dear friend!

Margo Culley

August 8, 2015

The photo of our handsome and beloved friend in his tux was taken when he and Margo Culley attended Toni Morrison's 75th birthday party at the New York Public Library. Thank you Angelo, for getting us invited! Margo

margo Culley

August 8, 2015

Victoria Nunez

August 6, 2015

I was a student of Joe's from 1999-2004. As others have mentioned, a beautiful smile, warmth, intelligence and kindness. All qualities in short supply these days. Am privileged to have known him.

Dan Henning

August 6, 2015

I met Joe in 1956 as a freshman at St. Francis prep. He sat next to me basically for four years in different classes . There was nothing frivolous about Joe Skerrett .May he rest in peace.

August 5, 2015

Thanks for the memories and your influence on my attitudes. Joe Sheridan ,prep 60, college 64

Frank Accettulli

August 5, 2015

Joe was a friend through High School and College. He was always the quiet consummate gentleman. He was witty, brighter than most and provided lasting memories. We had not connected for forty some years and somehow I found him on Facebook and it was like no time had passed. RIP.

lawrence laskowski

August 5, 2015

Joe . You are with us always. You were such a fun guy at St Francis Prep . Always outgoing and with a smile. Thanks for being in my life. It is a privilege to know you.

Robert O'Rourke

August 5, 2015

Joe was a gentleman, with a kind heart, and left a positive memory in the minds of everyone he met. You will be missed.

William Zuk

August 5, 2015

Fond memories of Joe from our high school years at St. Francis Prep and time spent on the boats of the Power Squadron. I last saw him at our 50th class reunion. A true scholar and gentleman.

Robert Sawicki

August 5, 2015

Joe was in my high school class at Saint Francis Prep in Brooklyn, N.Y. Perhaps the quality I remember most about him was his unwavering dignity. He was a one of a kind original who graced our class with his presence. Golden memories!

Joseph Scalia

August 5, 2015

Joe was a classmate from high school through college and a life-long friend. A class act. He will be missed. Rest in peace, Joe.

K Henry

August 3, 2015

Thank you for all of your kindness and academic insights. Your words of wisdom will be missed greatly, but those that I have will remain with me always.

Deirdre Colón Ross

August 2, 2015

I cannot remenber a time when Uncle Joe was not a part of our lives. He was one of mom and dad's best friends, and as such, was a given. I am so saddened by the fact that he will no longer be among us. A noble heart. D.

Robert Abrami

August 2, 2015

How blessed I am to have known JT for 59 years. He was my friend and confidant. We shared the good and the not so good but we laughed more than we cried. Rest in peace dear friend.

Mary macchiarola

August 2, 2015

Beloved friend,humble scholar,gentleman in the truest sense of the word,Joe will be sorely missed. Rest in peace,dearest Joe.
Mary Macchiarola

Diane Austen

August 1, 2015

J.T. - Joe - was a kind, gentle soul who touched many lives; a lover of beauty. I'm fortunate to have known him, and counted him as extended family, for many years. Prayers and blessings go with him. Diane Austen

Lorna and Dale Peterson

July 31, 2015

A good man; a terrific teacher; a true gentleman scholar. We will truly miss his warm smile.

Keith Byerman

July 31, 2015

Joe's scholarship, humor, and generosity of spirit will be much missed. Farewell, good friend.

Pat and Angel Colon

July 31, 2015

In far off Ireland, we are grieving the loss of a special and much loved friend. Mass will be said for Joe at Sacred Heart Convent, Dublin, on Sunday.
Pat and Angel Colon

July 31, 2015

Gone but NEVER forgotten.

Joe at dinner with John Lowe, Martha Cutter and me, MELUS, Spokane, 2009.

Fred Gardaphe

July 31, 2015

Joe was my first academic editor and served as a mentor through my career as a professor. I always looked forward to seeing him at annual academic conferences. He was very influential in my professional development and taught me how to navigate the often turbulent waters of academia. I will never forget the times we spent together.

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