MEAGHER, John C(arney) 1935-2003

(Ellen Fremedon)

PERSONAL: Surname is pronounced Mah-her; born March 23, 1935, in St. Louis, MO; died, 2003; son of John Ford (a broker) and Eleanor (Ackerman) Meagher; married Sheila McMahon Cary, August 9, 1958 (divorced, 1982); children: Mary, Kathleen, Margaret, Sean, Michael, Sarah Meagher York. Education: University of Notre Dame, B.A., 1956; Princeton University, M.A., 1958, Ph.D. (English), 1962; University of London, Ph.D. (English), 1961; McMaster University, Ph.D. (religion), 1975.

CAREER: University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, assistant professor of English, 1961-66; University of Toronto, St. Michael's College, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, associate professor, 1966-70, professor of English, beginning 1970, special lecturer in religious studies, beginning 1970, professor of theology, beginning 1973. Institute of Christian Thought, director, 1973-80. Ontario Ministry of Education, examiner for Quality Assessment Board, 2002.

MEMBER: Malone Society, Canadian Association of University Teachers, Canadian Society for the Study of Religion, Canadian Society for Biblical Studies, American Academy of Religion (president, 1975), Society of Biblical Literature, Society for Values in Higher Education, Association of Marshall Scholars and Alumni.

AWARDS, HONORS: Woodrow Wilson fellowship, 1956; Danforth fellowship, 1956; Marshall scholarship for England, 1959; Cross Disciplinary fellowship for study at University of Paris and Institut Catholique, 1965; fellow of Canada Council, 1972-73, and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, 1980-81, 1985-86; grant from Folger Library, 1995; Killam research fellow, 2000.

WRITINGS:

(Editor) The Downfall of Robert, Earl of Huntingdon, 1601, Malone Society (Oxford, England), 1965, published as The Huntingdon Plays: A Critical Edition of "The Downfall and the Death of Robert, Earl of Huntingdon," Garland Publishing (New York, NY), 1980.

Method and Meaning in Jonson's Masques, illustrated by Inigo Jones, University of Notre Dame Press (Notre Dame, IN), 1966.

(Editor) The Death of Robert Earl of Huntingdon, Malone Society (Oxford, England), 1967.

Toward a Moral Theory of Idioms, Soundings (London, England), 1971.

The Gathering of the Ungifted: Toward a Dialogue on Christian Identity, Herder & Herder (New York, NY), 1972.

The Way of the Word: The Beginning and the Establishing of Christian Understanding, Seabury Press (New York, NY), 1975.
Clumsy Construction in Mark's Gospel: A Critique of Form and Redaktionsgeschichte, Edwin Mellen Press (Lewiston, NY), 1979.

Five Gospels: An Account of How the Good News Came to Be, Winston Press (Minneapolis, MN), 1983.

The Truing of Christianity: Visions of Life and Thought for the Future, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1990.

Shakespeare's Shakespeare: How the Plays Were Made, Continuum (New York, NY), 1997.

(Under pseudonym Ellen Fremedon) Windforest, Continuum (New York, NY), 2002.

Pursuing Shakespeare's Dramaturgy: Some Contexts, Resources, and Strategies in His Playmaking, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press (Madison, NJ), 2003.

Contributor to Shakespeare 1971, University of Toronto (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1972.

SIDELIGHTS: John C. Meagher's friend, Sheila Dalton, wrote of the late author: "Dr. Meagher was a consummate educator, as well as a scholar. He once said, 'When I'm teaching, I feel as though I'm flying high above the earth and looking down and seeing patterns and connections and meaning—and I want everyone else to see them, too.' That defined Dr. Meagher as a teacher. He was highly regarded by his academic peers, as well as by his hundreds of admiring students. Meagher's work in Shakespearean dramaturgy and in 'truing' Christianity is considered stimulating and valuable. His writing style—personable, unpretentious, clear, and at times poetic, without sacrificing intellectual rigor, has been praised by scholars, reviewers, and general readers."

[Date of death provided by author and friend, Sheila Dalton.]