Deceased October 13, 1935
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In Memory
Joe Moriarty was born in Holyoke, MA, on October 13, 1935, and attended public schools there before entering Amherst with the Class of ’57. He left college in the spring of his sophomore year and returned three years later, to graduate in 1960 with a major in English. While at Amherst, Joe was active in theater and was a member of Chi Phi; he affiliated with the Class of ’60 in 1994.
Joe’s widow, Barbara, who prepared these details of Joe’s life after Amherst for the school in Charlottesville where he had been teaching before his death, shared them with us as well.
From 1962 to 1968 Joe taught at the Browning School in New York, teaching English, creative writing, and history. He was also the varsity basketball coach, and the school’s class of 1968 dedicated their yearbook to him.
For the next twenty-five years, Joe applied his talents in the corporate world, working first at AT&T in New York as a human resources manager in corporate communications. While there, Joe worked on many special projects, including the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid and the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. He also served two terms as a member of the New York City Board of Education, from 1970 to 1974. In 1984, still in New York, Joe formed his own consulting company in the management and communications field.
In 1993, Joe received a Master of Science degree in counseling with a concentration in alcohol and drug counseling from Long Island Univ., following which he spent a year at Mid-Manhattan Institute in a pre-doctoral program.
He also returned to teaching in 1993 and continued in that field until his death. He was a substitute teacher at Montclair Kimberley Academy in Montclair, NJ, Glen Ridge High School in Glen Ridge, NJ, and Hackettstown High School in Hackettstown, NJ. In June of 2004, he relocated to Charlottesville, VA, and did substitute teaching at Albemarle High School, William Monroe High School in Greene County and the Blue Ridge Detention Center.
“Mr. Mo,” as his students knew him, loved teaching. He enjoyed going to students’ plays and sporting events, and one of his most endearing and attractive qualities was his genuine concern for the students.
Joe was an avid reader, sometimes reading two or three books at the same time. He loved movies and the theater. He was well traveled. He loved doing the New York Times crossword puzzles. He loved sports, especially the New York Giants, the New York Yankees and playing golf.
Joe passed away on December 16, 2006, in Charlottesville, VA. He is survived by his wife, Barbara; a daughter, Meagan Moriarty of Santa Fe, NM; a granddaughter Mariah; and a sister, Eleanor Moriarty.
—David V. V. Wood ’60