Edward P. Mahoney

MAHONEY--Edward P. Father, Duke Emeritus Professor of Philosophy and a Catholic Priest in the Raleigh Diocese of North Carolina, died January 8, 2009. He was born November 3, 1932 in New York City, the son of Patrick J. Sr. and Kathleen Brady. He is survived by his brothers Patrick J. Jr., Kerry, Myles, and Stephen. Ed received his BA at Cathedral College, an MA in Philosophy at St. John's University, and an MA in Political Science and his Philosophy Ph.D. at Columbia University. He wrote his dissertation, The Early Psychology of Augustino Nifo, under the direction of Paul Oskar Kristeller, the noted scholar of Medieval and Renaissance thought. Ed went on to become an internationally recognized scholar of medieval and Renaissance philosophy in his own right. He had a particular interest in later medieval psychology, in late medieval and Renaissance receptions of Aristotle, and in historical accounts of "the Great Chain of Being." Besides authoring numerous articles on later medieval, Renaissance and early modern authors and topics, he edited Medieval Aspects of Renaissance Learning (1974) and Philosophy and the Humanities (1976), and he published a collection of his essays, Two Aristotelianisms of the Italian Renaissance: Nicoletto Vernia and Agostino Nifo (2000). Ed was a member of the Duke Department of Philosophy for forty years, starting in 1965. He held fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the John S. Guggenheim Foundation and was a Fulbright Teaching Fellow at the University of Rome. He served as a President of the Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy, and was a longtime member of both the Board of Directors of the Journal for the History of Philosophy and the Editorial Board of the Journal of the History of Ideas. Ed was a lively undergraduate teacher and a forceful proponent of interdisciplinary medieval and Renaissance studies at Duke. He served as dissertation advisor for several graduate students who now have tenure track or tenured academic positions. In addition, he ministered to students and professors at the Newman Center in Chapel Hill, NC, who know him affectionately as Fr. Ed. Ed leaves behind a rich legacy of dedicated service, teaching and scholarship. Memorial donation information: www.hallwynne.com. Select Obituaries.