Thomas Keefe, Ph.D., professor emeritus of history, died Nov. 3, 2022. He was 88. At the time of his death, he had worked on St. Joe’s campus for nearly 60 years.
Keefe was hired as a professor in 1964 and taught for 48 years until his retirement in 2012. A Chicago native, he lived close to St. Joe’s in a Bala Cynwyd apartment, walking to campus each day and picking up whatever loose change he could find in the Mandeville Hall parking lot. Even after his retirement, Keefe was a presence on campus. With his signature pipe dangling from his mouth, he showed up in Drexel Library everyday to volunteer.
“His life was St. Joe’s really,” said Katherine Sibley, Ph.D., professor of history and director of the American Studies program. “His office was like his home.”
Keefe’s primary passion in life was learning. His research focused on modern Germany, 19th Century European socialism and the French Revolution.
Keefe believed that history was a story, one that could be performed with gusto on the classroom stage, said Randall Miller, Ph.D., professor emeritus of history.
“He was a brilliant lecturer,” Miller said. “He made students really want to come to class and care about history.”
While he was always late to his classroom performances, Keefe rarely failed to give a good one. His voice echoing into the classrooms around him, Keefe would work up a sweat describing the details of whatever topic the class was focusing on that day.
Marty Farrell ’88, M.S. ’98, associate vice president of university advancement, took Keefe’s class in his first year at St. Joe’s.
“He had a lot of knowledge to convey, but he did it in a very entertaining style, which certainly helped me,” Farrell said.
Harboring a vehement dislike of modern technology known well by his coworkers, Keefe was content typing his syllabi and research papers on his manual typewriter. Accompanying the clacks of his typing was jazz music, his second passion in life.
“In a late afternoon, you’d hear two sounds: the rat-a-tat-tat of his typewriter and the sweet sounds of jazz,” Miller said.
Keefe’s extensive collection of jazz music has been donated to St. Joe’s Archives and Special Collections.
After retiring from teaching in 2021, Keefe turned his attention toward the library, a place where he could continue his love of learning without the need for a computer.
“He was an academic,” said Lesley Carey, university archivist. “He was really interested in books and especially books about history.”
Keefe would spend his days in the library organizing new books, erasing notes in old ones, organizing shelves and reading for himself. He was an avid donor to the library as well, not only giving books but resources for the librarians, including, during the covid-19 pandemic, a subscription to a learning service called Lyrasis that provides an array of online classes.
On his last day of work, the Friday before Halloween, Keefe followed his usual routine. He walked to the library in the afternoon, saying hello to anyone who crossed his path. He played jazz at his desk. He read through his books and joked with the staff. When his work was done, he went home, announcing that he was going to watch the Phillies game and smoke a cigar.
When Keefe didn’t show up to the library for a few days, a library staff member went to check on him and found that he had passed away.
“He had a very purposeful life here as a teacher, as an organizer, as a caring colleague to faculty, staff and students,” Miller said. “[He was] almost, I would say, irreplaceable in that regard.”
