Michael Clancy

1950 - 2024

Michael Clancy
08/17/1950 - 12/26/2024
Michael J. Clancy died at age 74, from complications of Parkinson's Disease, on December 26, 2024, in Tahoe, surrounded by loving family. Born in East St. Louis, Illinois, in August of 1950, he grew up in a big Irish family, attended Marmion Academy, did his undergraduate work at University of Illinois Champagne-Urbana, and then moved to California for graduate work at Stanford University. Mike was a kind and generous person who took great pleasure in his relationships with family and friends. He was a quiet man who loved to draw people out and hear their stories, always giving you his full attention when he was listening. Passionate about the natural world, he was a member of many organizations dedicated to protecting it. In addition to uncountable backpacking trips in the High Sierra and day hikes in the Bay Area, he enjoyed international travel. His last trip, 21 days in Antarctica, supplanted his earlier favorite of hiking in Pakistan's Hunza Valley. A fine tenor who loved singing both with the Newman Hall choir and along the trail on his many backpacking trips, he reputedly once sang for a five day trip without repeating a song! He made amazing cheesecakes, relished good food, and delighted in his cellar of fine red wines. Champagne was, of course, always a welcome alternative.
Mike was a Teaching Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at UC Berkeley for more than 30 years. He was an award winning teacher and was active in designing and teaching pedagogy to first time teaching assistants. Mike was an early innovator in online learning environments for programming instruction and was active in the design of self-paced courses. With colleagues in the School of Education, he was a scholar of pedagogy for novice programmers, and he was involved in the development of UC web-based instruction for science and engineering. Mike was an active member both of the U.S. computer science education community and of the international community of researchers into the psychology of programming. He co-authored several books beginning with the very successful "Oh! Pascal!" in 1985, as well as many research papers and journal articles. Mike was awarded the ACM SIGSCE Award for Outstanding Contributions to Computer Science Education in 2009 and the ACM Distinguished Educator Award in 2016. He sincerely loved teaching and his students.
Mike is survived by his wife, Caryn Dombroski; his stepson, David; and granddaughter, Isadora; along with a multitude of cousins, students, and friends. A memorial service will be held at Newman Hall/Holy Spirit Parish, in Berkeley, CA, on February 22, 2025, at 2 pm. Donations in his memory can be made to The Nature Conservancy or PD Active.