Ronald L. Terranella PhD

Ronald L. Terranella, PhD, of South Abington Township, a retired professor of Marywood University who served in the English Department for 41 years, died Saturday following an illness. He was 92.
Terranella was born and grew up in New York City but attended Central High School in Scranton after his family resettled in Pennsylvania in the late forties. After receiving a BA from the University of Scranton, he was drafted into the Army and served in the 3rd Armored Cavalry while stationed in West Germany.
Following his release from service he pursued a career as an educator, receiving the MA from the University of Scranton and the PhD from the University of Notre Dame where he taught sophomores as a grant scholar. He joined the Marywood faculty in 1965 and later pursued film study at The New School in New York. But it was as a professor of world literature that he established his reputation, tracing the rise of Western civilization from its ancient roots in Biblical and Classical texts to the advent of modern visionaries like Dostoevsky and Yeats. Terranella served for several years as president of the Marywood Chapter of the American Association of University Professors and was a member of the Association of Literary Scholars and Critics. In 1995, just before his retirement, he received recognition as a Marywood Presidential Honoree for his contributions both to the college and the Northeastern Pennsylvania area.
The son the late Rose and Albert Terranella, he was predeceased by a twin brother, Raymond, of Austin, TX, and a younger brother Thomas, of Carbondale, PA ; his former wife and best friend, Victoria McDonald, passed away in 2022.
He is survived by their beloved daughter, Alexandra, of South Abington Township and nieces and nephews in Texas, New York, California, Arizona and Pennsylvania.
A Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated Friday, November 14th at 10:00 a.m. at Our Lady of Snows Church, 301 South State Street, Clarks Summit, PA.
Military honors will be rendered following the Mass.
Interment will be conducted privately at Cathedral Cemetery.
Memorial contributions may be made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, 262 Danny Thomas Drive, Memphis, TN 38105.