Editor’s Note: This story is part of the Register’s special report on “Legendary Professors.” Read the first story here.
Peter Kreeft loves teaching and hates committees so much that years ago he made a deal with the philosophy department chairman to teach an extra course in exchange for not having to do administrative tasks.
But then, he doesn’t have to do anything. At 89, Kreeft long ago qualified for a healthy pension. Yet he plans to teach again this coming academic year — his 62nd since joining the faculty of Boston College in 1965.
He’s choosing to do so despite the recent loss of his wife of 63 years, Maria, who died on May 31 at age 85, after suffering from Parkinson’s disease. Kreeft had served as her caregiver at home for more than a year until she insisted on moving to a nursing home to relieve him of that responsibility, as he told Matt Fradd on his podcast Pints With Aquinas during a much-viewed interview in July.
“Why am I still teaching?” Kreeft told the Register. “Why shouldn’t I? It’s a job worth doing and I can do a good job and I enjoy it. Three good reasons.”
“I
