Denis Corish Faculty died on October 26, 2024, in Brunswick, Maine.

1973-2007 Assistant Professor to Professor of Philosophy; Emeritus in 2007

(The following was provided by Portland Press Herald in November 15, 2024:)

Denis Corish Faculty

BRUNSWICK – Denis Corish passed away on October 26, 2024, following a stroke.
Born in New Ross, County Wexford, Ireland, on March 19, 1935, Denis was the fifth and last child of Philomena and Denis Corish, a court clerk. His mother suffered from rheumatoid arthritis and died when Denis was only 7.

Denis thought he would enter the priesthood, so he matriculated at St. Joseph’s College, Maynooth. He loved Latin and Greek, but majored in philosophy for its higher practical value. During his time at seminary, he saw the light and left Maynooth with a bachelor’s degree, and then received a master’s from University College Dublin.

He moved to Toronto to pursue a PhD. After five years, he failed his PhD because an anonymous reviewer objected that “fledgling philosophers like Corish” should be commenting on the ideas of others, not offering their own ideas.

Royally peeved but determined, he moved to Boston, where he started again. Second time was a charm, and he received his PhD, with a dissertation on the philosophy of time from Boston University. During his graduate student years he made ends meet as a “dorm mother” at Brandeis University, where he connected with the international student community and met his future wife, Chooi Siew, a student from Malaysia.

Denis and Chooi Siew married in Ireland. They bought a fixer upper on Lough Na Fooey, County Mayo, which had recently been used for keeping sheep. This cottage would be a place of great pride, solace, and plenty of work in future decades.

In a major stroke of luck, Denis was offered a position in the Philosophy Department at Bowdoin College, and he and his wife settled in Brunswick in 1973. He found a wonderful community at Bowdoin for the next fifty years. Denis held his colleagues on the faculty and staff in high regard and always knew somebody whose expertise or life experience made them the perfect person to consult for one thing or another. He also enjoyed connecting with students. His signature pedagogical tool was to have students read their papers aloud to him while he reviewed them, a half-hour exercise that was appreciated by some and was certainly terrifying to others.

Denis was curious about the world. He learned languages, collected mushrooms, talked to people, read constantly, and wrote poetry knitting together many of the topics he studied: math and science, history, nature, and philosophy. He was long recognized around Brunswick as the guy who ran or walked in all weather conditions. Into his 80s he walked fifty miles a week, 2,500 miles a year, and covered a distance that wrapped around the world multiple times.

Denis and Chooi Siew raised two children in Brunswick: Siobhan and Maeve. He was extremely proud of them and their accomplishments.

Denis is predeceased by his brother Eddie and sisters Joan and Betty. He is survived by his oldest brother, Nick, his wife, Chooi Siew, daughters Siobhan (Anders), Maeve (Rui) and grandchildren Axel, Liv, Benjamin, and Tiago.

Denis requested there be no funeral or memorial service. Instead, he will be taken back to New Ross and set sail on the River Barrow.

(The following was provided by President Zaki in October 30, 2024:)

From: President Zaki
Sent: Wednesday, October 30, 2024

To the Bowdoin community,

I am writing with the sad news that Professor of Philosophy Emeritus Denis Corish passed away in the early morning hours of Saturday, October 26, at Mid Coast Hospital in Brunswick, following a stroke. Denis was a beloved mentor, colleague, and friend, and he will be missed by the Bowdoin community.

Denis was born on March 19, 1935, in New Ross, County Wexford, Ireland, the youngest of five siblings. He earned an AB degree and an LPh at St. Patrick’s College in Maynooth, Ireland, in 1956 and an MA at University College in Dublin. Denis taught at Villanova University in Pennsylvania for three years and at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, for four years. He completed a PhD in philosophy at Boston University in 1973 and joined the Bowdoin faculty later that year.

At Bowdoin, Denis taught courses in Greek philosophy, medieval philosophy, the philosophy of religion, and the philosophy of science. He was known for having his students read their papers aloud to him so they could review them together. He chaired the Department of Philosophy on several occasions and served regularly on a range of faculty committees and governing boards.

It is difficult to capture the breadth and depth of Denis’s interests, abilities, and curiosity. He was a dedicated student of English, Latin, Greek, Irish, Italian, French, and German. He wrote articles that explored the philosophical underpinnings of time as it is understood in Western thought, offered new interpretations of literary works, and acted as a sounding board for the ideas of colleagues across a wide range of disciplines. Denis immersed himself in the study of Greek at the Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, DC, and a series of summer seminars offered by the National Endowment for the Humanities on medieval philosophy, the philosophy of time, and Plato and the polis.

An accomplished poet as well as a scholar, Denis published numerous poems in The New Yorker, The Sewanee Review, The Kenyon Review, Notes and Queries (England), and the Poetry Ireland Review. He taught himself Old Irish in order to translate and give new life to the poetry of his ancestors.

Some may remember Denis as a chorister and a soloist with the Bowdoin College Chamber Choir and Chorus. He sang the role of Jesus in performances of Heinrich Schütz’s Passion and in the chorus of Handel’s Israel in Egypt and Mozart’s Requiem. Others may recall his delight at locating a place to collect choice, edible mushrooms. However, many of us knew him because of his walking prowess. Regardless of the weather, Denis could be seen walking everywhere—on campus, which is how I met him on several occasions, to the grocery store, and around town. What began as a twenty-five-year routine of running became a daily habit of walking. Into his eighties, Denis walked 2,500 miles a year, with a five-mile walk before breakfast. On his walks, he might translate the notes of a Beethoven symphony, a Gregorian chant, or an Irish folk tune into solfège (a mnemonic system that facilitates sight-reading of musical pitches). He often contemplated logic or philosophy problems or composed poetry during the walks.

Denis retired in 2007 as professor of philosophy emeritus, although in Denis’s case, it turned out to be a very active retirement. He retained a library carrel, where he had been working regularly on a book that unified his perspectives on the philosophy of time and also on a collection of his poems.

Denis is survived by his oldest brother Nick; his wife, Chooi-Siew Lim Corish of Brunswick; two daughters, Siobhan M. Niklasson (Anders), and Maeve Corish (Rui Lopes); and four grandchildren, Alex, Liv, Benjamin, and Tiago. We join them and Denis’s colleagues, former students, and friends in celebrating a life that enriched and continues to inspire us.

Sincerely,

Safa