John C. Cavanagh

John C. Cavanagh, age 85, passed away on Saturday, March 30, 2019 in San Antonio, Texas. He will be remembered as an academic legend. After earning a BA at Dartmouth College, an MA at Columbia University, and a PhD in History at Duke University, he went to Suffolk University in 1970, after teaching at Duke University and the University of Tennessee. He found himself in a department whose full-time faculty averaged well over 65 years of age. An upstart newcomer, he was appointed department chair in 1973 by new College of Arts & Sciences Dean Michael Ronayne, with the charge to renew the department. John did this with new courses, new methods, new attitudes, and a number of new hires, who, in their turn, have served Suffolk University and the department well for decades.

His interactive, student-centered classes covered a range of daunting subjects, which he introduced into the Suffolk curriculum: Native American History, the History of Mesoamerica and Mexico, American Colonial History, the Era of the American Revolution; the Young Nation, the American Civil War and Reconstruction, The Old and New South; The Gilded Age; American Foreign Relations, and Twentieth-Century American History.

With research interests that included the American South, the U.S. in the 18th century, military history, and particularly Revolutionary War General Benjamin Lincoln, North Carolina, and the U.S. Constitution, he has written numerous articles and book reviews in scholarly journals and standard reference publications, and his book on North Carolina and the ratification of the Constitution in the standard work on that exciting story. He was also instrumental in having the papers of General Benjamin Lincoln donated to the Massachusetts Historical Society, where they have been used by generations of scholars.

During his 41 years at Suffolk University, he was an energetic and constant contributor to unity and solidarity in a steadily diversifying institution, a much-needed centripetal force in centrifugal environment. He chaired Suffolk University's Combined Social Committees from 1978 until 1991, planning the Dean's receptions and other social events. He was a founder of the University Heritage Committee and editor of Heritage project materials from 1979 until his retirement in 2011. Additionally John served as faculty advisor of the Theta Lambda Chapter of Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society from 1971 until 2007. John was also a professor at the Center for International Studies in Madrid, Spain, during the early years of Suffolk's presence in that country; a College Fundraising coordinator for the

Suffolk University Development Campaigns of 1980-1981 and 1984-1985; and president of the Suffolk chapter of the American Association of University Professors for 1972 – 1973.

It was with great pleasure and gratitude that the Heritage Committee of Suffolk University presented the Heritage Medallion for long and distinguished service to John C. Cavanagh.

He was preceded in death by his parents, James Ellsworth and Marjorie Carroll Cavanagh. John is survived by his wife, Beth Graham of San Antonio, TX; stepchildren, Dr. Camilla Graham ( Dr. Dawn Osborne); Brevick Graham (Laura); Mariah Smith (Jerry); grandchildren, Benjamin Graham-Osborne; Harrison Lundberg; Margaret Lundberg; John's sister, Julie (Keith) Kaneta of Amherst; Dr. James Cavanagh of Tallahassee, FL; as well as numerous beloved nieces and nephews.

Funeral Services will be held in Northampton, Massachusetts on April 6, 2019.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Alzheimer's Association.