In
the last few months, Baltimore’s peace community lost two invaluable members –
Joe Morton and Dr. Larry Egbert. They will be very difficult to
replace. In the peace movement, there are not enough farmers to till all
of the exploited and oppressed fields. But I am hoping two people come
forward, and one informs us he will pick up Joe’s mantle and the other
Larry’s. Then possibly both will decide to dedicate their lives to peace
and justice work.
Kagiso,
Max
Joe
Morton, peace activist and Goucher College philosophy chair, dies
Joe Morton
Joe Morton, peace activist and Goucher College philosophy chair,
dies.
A memorial
service for Joe Morton, a retired Goucher College philosophy department chair
who founded a peace studies program, will be held at 1 p.m. June 18 at the
Athenaeum on the school's Towson campus.
Dr. Morton, who was 80, died of cancer April 7
at Gilchrist Hospice Care. He lived in Towson.
Born in Budapest, he was the son of Tibor and
Rose Morton, who were Jews living a Nazi-controlled country. His father, a
visual artist, was general manager for Eastman Kodak in Hungary.
"Kodak made arrangements to get them out
with counterfeit passports. My father, as a 6-year-old, was able to escape with
his parents and sister," said his daughter, Rebecca Morton of Columbus,
Ohio. "They sewed their jewelry in the lining of their clothes.
"They took a train to Munich and flew to
Lisbon, [then] left Lisbon harbor on a ship bound for New York," she said.
"They had an extended stay at the Hotel Wellington, and later settled in
Rochester, New York."
Dr. Morton earned a bachelor's degree at Amherst
College, where he studied Greek and Latin, and earned a doctorate in philosophy
from the Johns Hopkins University.
He arrived at Goucher in 1963, served as chair
of the philosophy department from 1978 to 1988, and founded the college's peace
studies program in 1991. He retired in 2000.
"Joe always taught the senior seminar in
the later Platonic dialogues," said a Goucher colleague, John Rose.
"He said that Plato's later dialogues were the finest example of a
thinker's capacity to critique himself.
"Joe was always ready to review and
critique beliefs that he held to bring himself to a better understanding,"
said Dr. Rose. "I know many instances where Joe reflected, started from
scratch, and arrived at an utterly transformed view on a subject. Joe was one
of the most intellectually brave people I have ever known."
He said his colleague's interest in peace
studies and conflict resolution evolved from joining students in demonstrations
and protest actions against the military in the 1980s and 1990s.
"The peace studies program that started as
a couple of courses became Goucher's first interdisciplinary major," Dr.
Rose said. "It has become one of our most popular majors."
A vegetarian, Dr. Morton kept a bag of apples —
purchased at the Waverly farmers' market — on his desk. Students were always
welcome to have one.
He kept a sign on his office door that read,
"Live simply so that others may simply live."
Dr. Morton began running in high school and
completed marathons. He also took extended bike rides.
He took car trips in the Southwest and studied
the Lakota Native American culture and philosophy. He also taught Lakota
philosophy at Goucher.
In addition to his daughter, survivors include a
son, Jason Morton of Hagerstown; a sister, Veronika Kardosh of Ramat Gan,
Israel; and four grandchildren. Another son, Paul Morton, died in 1977. His
marriage to Mary Elizabeth Corcoran Morton ended in divorce.
—Jacques Kelly
Sad News for the Goucher
Community Regarding Joe Morton
April 7,
2016
Dear
Goucher Community Members:
It is
with great sadness that I share the passing of Joe Morton, founder of Goucher’s
Peace Studies Program and professor emeritus of philosophy and peace studies.
Joe passed away early this morning. Details about a memorial service will be
shared as they become available; currently, it looks as if it may be scheduled
for June or July.
Dr.
Morton learned the necessity of reconciliation at an early age. Born in
Hungary, he came to the United States as a child with his parents and sister to
escape the Holocaust. Dr. Morton received his bachelor’s degree from Amherst
College and his doctorate in philosophy from the Johns Hopkins University. He
came to Goucher in 1963, chaired the Philosophy Department from 1978 to 1988,
and founded the Peace Studies Program in 1991, one of the few programs in the
country of its kind at that time. He served Goucher faithfully until his
retirement in 2000 and remained an active member of the community until his
passing.
Dr.
Morton was a lifelong teacher because he was also a lifelong learner. With
great intellectual courage, he was always ready to reexamine, review, and
critique his opinions to bring himself to a better understanding. Dr. Morton
would often start from scratch on a given subject and arrive at an utterly transformed
view. In many such instances, Dr. Morton’s reappraisal of his beliefs began in
his conversations with his students. His interest in peace studies and conflict
resolution, in fact, grew out of joining students in demonstrations and
political actions of protest against the United States’ military actions in the
1980s and 1990s. These student conversations also led to an awareness of
conditions for the homeless, and he took food and clothing to Jonah House for
decades.
Dr.
Morton had a particular talent for drawing people together and for sustaining
relationships. He would say he learned with many American Indian communities,
taking summers to drive around the country visiting friends and colleagues from
coast to coast. Dr. Morton was the rare philosopher for whom the theoretical
philosophical ideas translated clearly into moral purpose and active plans for
social transformation. He was an activist against war, the death penalty,
militarism, and nuclear proliferation.
He was a kind, gentle,
and unobtrusive man, who remained steadfastly and wonderfully present in our
lives. He was thoughtful, fiercely independent, and deeply committed to
nonviolence as the guiding principle of his life. During the last two decades
of his life, he took special inspiration from this passage in theBhagavad-Gita:
“They
live in wisdom who see themselves in all, and all in them…whose love for all
creation has consumed every selfish desire and self-craving tormenting heart.
Not agitated by grief nor hankering after pleasure, they live free of lust, and
fear, and anger. Fettered no more by selfish attachments, they are not elated
by good fortune not depressed by bad. Such are the seers.”
These
are the words Dr. Morton lived by, and the ones that we will remember him by.
He is
survived by his daughter, Rebecca Morton of Columbus, OH, his son-in-law, David
Brewer, and grandchildren Lotte and Lucian Brewer; his son, Jason Morton of
Hagerstown, MD, his daughter-in-law Kelly Ann, and granddaughters Meredith and
Sadie; and his sister, Veronika Kardosh of Israel, and his nephew, Michael
Kardosh. He is predeceased by his son, Paul Morton.
The family requests
gifts made in memory of Dr. Morton be directed to the Human Rights and
Non-Violence Fund. Donations may be made by visiting Goucher’sgiving page and selecting the fund from the
drop-down menu or mailed to Goucher College, the Office of Advancement, 1021
Dulaney Valley Road, Baltimore, MD 21204.
Our
deepest condolences to his family.
Best,
José Antonio Bowen
José Antonio Bowen
Chesapeake
PSR Board of Directors
Thursday, June 16, 2016 9:32 AM
Remembering Larry Egbert, MD, Chesapeake PSR board member
Thursday, June 16, 2016 9:32 AM
Remembering Larry Egbert, MD, Chesapeake PSR board member
|
Chesapeake
PSR is sad to announce the death of Board Member Dr. Lawrence
Egbert last week.
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