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BORN
1923
DIED
2014
Marvin Mirsky Obituary
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Memories and Condolences
for Marvin Mirsky
Bernard Matus j
May 18, 2021
I remember Marvin when he lived in New York
My wife snd I visited him in Maine many decades ago
Carol Reiman
May 18, 2021
It’s good to see, decades after my college experience, that Marvin Mirsky elicited such appreciative responses. I gained such insight into the literary and psychological aspects of the Bible. While unaffiliated with a religious community at that time (1970s), I am now happily involved with Jewish and Unitarian Universalist groups and mesh well with a friend who enjoys one Biblical study group with Hebrew text and another group with Greek text.
Andy Gage
March 24, 2021
After several weeks of class, he asked: with everything else being equal, would you prefer beauty? Everyone was afraid to respond. Best professor I ever had.
anne gauthier
May 18, 2020
Wish I could hear what he would have thought about our pandemic It would be worth hearing from a brilliant mind like his.
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Haley Simon
November 15, 2017
I was mad for this wonderful, charming, brilliant man and count myself so lucky for having met him. Pity to all the people who will never have a chance to share a class with him. I hope those he loved are comforted by many wonderful memories.
Carol Reiman
November 6, 2015
Marvin Mirsky was my favorite teacher at The University of Chicago in the 1970s, in courses dealing with the Bible as literature and Biblical themes in modern literature. My horizons were broadened, and I learned more about writing. A couple of papers from his class are the only papers I kept for a few decades.
Debby Brennan
September 7, 2015
I spent several memorable years with Marvin Mirsky in the house. He had a ridiculously fine wit and he was a charmer in every way. He taught me so much about life, theater, books. His wit was ridiculously sharp. And driving in a car with him was a trip. Truly he was one of the great men who I have known in my life. I am so lucky to have been his friend.
September 18, 2014
So sorry to hear of Marvin's passing. I knew him as a boy, when he and his son, Seth, would spend summers on Swan's Island, ME. He was such a kind, gentle soul.
Carl Ranquist
Kathryn Johnson
June 1, 2014
Mr Mirsky will be missed by all who knew him.
Paula MacKay
June 1, 2014
What a remarkable life he led, full of experiences and outstanding accomplishments - a true Renaissance man.
My heartfelt condolences to Seth, Cynthia, and the whole family.
Peggy Haley
May 31, 2014
I was saddened when informed of Marvin's passing. I was privileged to meet him through my cousin Mary Ann and spent several delightful afternoons with him and Mary Ann in Chicago. He was a delight and brightened any room with his lovely smile.
May 31, 2014
The signature for my previous message should have been Anne Black Gauthier. I was Anne Black when Marvin and I first met before I met George Gauthier with whom I visited Marvin in Maine and Paris.
May 31, 2014
My dear clever, irascible, lovable friend is gone? It is hard to accept. What a loss to so many. We were introduced by our mutual
U of C friend Virginia Wright Wexman (or was it the other way around?) in the early 1970s, probably even before he knew his beloved Mary Ann. When he taught classes on the northshore, we would walk afterward by the lake. For every zinger, I would pinch him. That hurts, he would say. You see! I would say. As he mellowed over the years, with Mary Ann's loving presence, I actually missed the zingers. George and I visited him and son Seth at his retreat in Maine. We celebrated one of his birthdays with dinner on our deck in Evanston. Our tradition was to remember each other's birthdays; he would phone, I would send a dirty postard. He enjoyed how this shocked the postal clerk on Swan's Island. We visited him and Mary Ann at their flat in Paris. It will be be our joy to continue our contact with this lovely woman.
Marjorie Ettlinger
May 30, 2014
Having studied with Marvin for 0ver 50 years, I feel lucky that I missed as few of the years as was possible. He was a great light in my life and will be missed by me and many others.
Wendy Kilcollin
May 28, 2014
For 28 years I participated in Mr. Mirsky's literature classes. How sad to know that we won't have him to challenge our minds anymore. I always awaited his book lists with great interest.....they were so catholic! I will miss his keen insights and DRY sense of humor. Mr. Mirsky refered to a particular passage he liked as "a HOWLER". Especially memorable were his insights of the World Wars, the VietNam War and other periods of history which he had lived. Mary, my thoughts are with you and the rest of his family. Seth, he shared with us your involvement in a gamelan orchestra when we studied post-modernism.
Sharon Batterson
May 28, 2014
Marvin Mirsky was a wonderful teacher. I will always remember him.
May 28, 2014
I just found out about Marvin's death and am at
a loss to express my shock and sadness. He seemed as if he would go on forever, his mind
was so sharp. We had our last class in April
and talked about the readings for next fall.
My condolences to Mary and his family.
Roberta Perlman
Cookie Wherry
May 28, 2014
I participated in many of Mr. Mirsky's literature classes over a spread of 3 decades. Such a fine mind; such a fine gentleman. Life won't seem the same knowing he's no longer teaching.
Showing 1 - 18 of 18 results
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