In Memoriam: Michael McGonigle

By Daniel S. RSS Mon, November 19, 2012

The Free Library was saddened to hear about the passing of Michael McGonigle, film lecturer at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Michael was very generous with his time and talents and donated his time to lecture about film at the Free Library often. Some memorable lectures he has given at the Free Library include “The Titanic in Film,” “Native Americans in Film,” and “Immigrants and the American Dream in Cinema.” Michael was a featured lecturer during our annual One Book, One Philadelphia events and he was eagerly looking forward to dealing with the themes of this year's book, The Buddha in the Attic, by Julie Otsuka.

Michael’s formal schooling ended after one year at Temple University, but he always had a love of knowledge and research. His passion for self-education made him a strong supporter of institutions like the Free Library of Philadelphia. His lectures always inspired further research, which he encouraged by handing out bibliographies further reading. Sometimes he went even further. For his lecture on the Titanic he included a recipe so that after learning about Titanic, participants could go home and prepare the last meal that was served on the Titanic.  
 
We will miss him and extend our condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues.
 
For more information on Michael, see his obituary in this Sunday's Philadelphia Inquirer.
 

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There is a memorial service for Michael being held this coming Saturday, December 8th, 2012 at: The Ethical Society of Philadelphia 1906 Rittenhouse Square Philadelphia, PA 19103 It begins at 1PM
Kerry S. - South Jersey
Monday, December 3, 2012