12/26/2021

ISHR - Dr. James J. Murphy

ISHR members

With great sadness I inform you of the passing of James J. - Jerry - Murphy in the morning of 24 December, at the age of 98. Jerry’s name is a household word for several generations of scholars in the history of rhetoric, and he was a dear friend of many of them. As co-founder of our Society, first editor of our journal Rhetorica, and supporter and promoter of rhetoric in all its facets, his personality and his work have been of immeasurable importance for our Society and the communities of scholars in rhetoric worldwide. He will be remembered with great fondness and deep respect by all of us.

An obituary will be published in Rhetorica in due course.

This link gives access to a video of a conversation with Jerry about his career at the University of California at Davis and his scholarly work in the history of rhetoric, recorded on 11/10/1994 and published by UC Davis in the public domain: https://video.ucdavis.edu/media/James+Murphy/0_q3x21oc5

Marc van der Poel
ISHR President