Philosophy professor leaves life of Lasallian learning behind

By Frank Visco and Elizabeth Adler
Collegian Editor
December 5, 2007

Dr. Michael Kerlin, a La Salle philosophy professor for over 40 years, who colleagues say was truly dedicated to learning, passed away Nov. 23 from leukemia, at the age of 71.

“Mike was a character,” John Grady, the director of the Honors Program and Kerlin’s longtime friend, said. “You need Mike Kerlins on campus. They’re conversationalists and they’re teachers. He’s going to be missed.”

Kerlin was a mainstay in the Honors Program from 1972 until last year. Grady said that Kerlin especially loved teaching the freshman survey classes because it forced him to branch out.

Several years ago, Grady told the freshmen teachers to “go beyond the West” and incorporate some Eastern material into their honors courses. Before leaving for the summer, Kerlin indicated he couldn’t do that because he didn’t have a background in Eastern philosophy, but by the time he returned in the fall he had done it. He spent the summer reading Eastern thought and learning some Arabic, so much so that there were Arabic syllables on his syllabus.

Making a distinction between a philosopher and a teacher of philosophy, Grady called Kerlin a “philosopher par excellence,” but said it was more important to Kerlin that he be a good teacher.

“He was a lifelong learner because he was a teacher,” Grady said. “He felt that he had to be in order to be as good for his students as he could be. He tried to know as much as he possibly could about as much as he possibly could.”

In proof of this, Grady pointed to the fact that Kerlin prided himself on knowing many languages, as he was proficient in French, German, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Danish, Gaelic and Arabic. Remembering a vacation the two men took with their wives, Grady mentioned that Kerlin woke up at 3 a.m. every morning to get two hours of reading time every day without short changing his time with others. Even up until the days before his death, Kerlin continued to seek out knowledge. According the Philadelphia Inquirer, “He took a copy of Teach Yourself New Testament Greek into the hospital, and three days before his death he asked his son-in-law,Kayvan Nasser-Ghodsi, for some lessons in Farsi.”

Pointing to the fact that Kerlin was constantly concerned with pedagogy, Grady indicated that Kerlin worked hard to make difficult topics understandable to young students.

“Dr. Kerlin cared deeply about what he was teaching, but more than anything, he cared about his students,” senior business major Mike Young said. “This fact came across in the goofy yet precise way that he presented each topic.

“From Socrates to Nietzsche, Kerlin would feed off of his students’ curiosity and pull them deeper into the mind of the philosopher. He never lectured a room full of dummies, because he would never let his students think they were anything less than philosophers themselves.”

Grady credited Kerlin’s drive as a teacher to his incredible sensitivity. Even though he constantly received high marks on student evaluations, Kerlin would fret over those few that said something negative and “that drove him in the other two areas.”

For his efforts, Kerlin was awarded the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching in 1986 and the Distinguished Lasallian Educator Award in 2006. Philosophy department chair Marc Moreau mentioned that Kerlin also held the distinction of having the most published book reviews out of all of the professors at La Salle.

Kerlin was also popular among the faculty, and this was particularly evident during his 28 tenure as the chair of the philosophy department from 1972 to 2000. Moreau, Kerlin’s immediate successor, cited Kerlin’s laidback style with the faculty as his best asset as chair.

“As our chairman, it wasn’t his style to give orders,” Moreau, who also gave Kerlin’s eulogy, said. “He kept us all working productively and harmoniously together by his constant encouragement… by his even-handed fairness, by his sense of humor, and by his oh-so-many stories.”

Originally a La Salle student, Kerlin graduated from the university 1958 with a degree in English. After graduation, he joined the Christian Brothers as Brother Eldridge Joseph and went to Rome to get his Ph.D. in philosophy from Gregorian University in 1966 (he eventually left the order). While working toward his Ph.D., Kerlin also studied in Austria and Ireland.

Eight years later Kerlin received his second Ph.D., this time in religion, from Temple University. He received his last degree, an MBA from La Salle in 1988, for a business ethics class he was teaching.

Throughout his teaching career, Kerlin showed an interest in a variety of areas. A leading scholar on the works of the French philosopher Maurice Blondel, he also taught business ethics and courses specific to a variety of other philosophers.

Kerlin is survived by a wife, a son, a daughter and a grandson, and was eagerly awaiting the birth of his second grandchild.

viscof1@lasalle.edu