Marcia Gealy, 1932-2022
July 15, 2022
Marcia B. Gealy, Associate Professor of Instruction in Writing (Emerita), died on July 13, 2022, aged 90. Prof. Gealy also taught courses in her specialty, modern Jewish literature, for the programs of Jewish Studies, American Studies, and Comparative Literature. She retired from Northwestern in 2018.
A dedicated and beloved teacher, Gealy was often elected to the student government’s Faculty Honor Roll and held a Charles Deering McCormick professorship for distinguished teaching from 2002 to 2005. During her 38 years at Northwestern, she served as a reader for the Northwestern University Press, a member of the University Fellowship Committee, a faculty fellow of the Women’s Residential College, and a senior fellow at the Searle Center for Teaching Excellence. She moved to Northwestern in 1980 with her husband, William Gealy, who directed the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs. Before that she taught at eight other colleges and universities. She earned her M.A. at Columbia University and her Ph.D. at Ohio State, with a dissertation on Bernard Malamud.
Gealy had a special gift for teaching international students and took a fierce pride in those who excelled. She loved poetry, storytelling, long walks, Tai Chi, and classical music. She was preceded in death by her husband, William Gealy, and is survived by her daughter Eileen Daugirda and husband John; son Mark Booher and wife Diane; grandson Brad Daugirda and wife Devon; grandson Jeremy Booher and wife Betsy; granddaughter Cherie Langas and husband Jeff; and great grandchildren John Langas and Kate Daugirda. Services will be private.