Robert B. Hurley Ph.D.

SCARBOROUGH – Robert B. Hurley, Ph.D., a longtime resident of Peaks Island, passed away peacefully on Sept. 7, 2024. He was 91.

A retired college professor with a quick wit and offbeat sense of humor, Bob lived a long, happy and impactful life surrounded by his loving family. The center of his universe was his wife, partner, and best friend, Connie. Over 65 years of marriage, Bob and Connie set an enduring example of love, loyalty and friendship for all who knew them, especially their five children, 16 grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.

Their love and commitment to each other was never more evident than during the darkest days of the pandemic, when Connie would take the ferry from Peaks to Portland and then drive to Scarborough, all for the opportunity to talk through a window with Bob, a resident in the memory care unit at Maine Veterans’ Home since 2019. Bob’s huge smile when he saw the love of his life outside his window perfectly captured the essence of their lifelong commitment to each other.

Bob was born on May 27, 1933, in Schenectady N.Y., the only child of Ronald and Anne Marie Hurley. When he was a young boy, Bob and his parents moved to Albany, N.Y. where he spent the rest of his childhood. Bob graduated from Vincentian Institute High School in 1951 and attended Fordham University before enlisting in the Army in 1954. He spent several years on active duty as a member of the 35th Field Artillery Group in Germany, where he served with distinction as a radio operator and repairman.

Bob returned to Albany, N.Y. following his Army service and earned undergraduate and master’s degrees from Siena College. It was during this period of his life that Bob was reintroduced to Connie Campbell, the younger sister of his friend Ed Campbell. Bob and Connie soon fell in love and were married on Dec. 26, 1959, while Bob was a high school English teacher and Connie was a nurse in Albany, N.Y. Ten years and five kids later, Bob and Connie decided to move to New York City, N.Y. so that Bob could pursue a fellowship and Ph.D. at NYU while Connie continued her nursing career. While enduring the sweltering summer of 1969 in a 10th floor apartment in Queens with five kids under 10, Bob and Connie saw an ad in the New York Times about a cottage for rent on an island in Maine that miraculously fit their budget and thus began their 50-plus year love affair with Peaks Island.

In 1970, the Hurley family moved to Glen Ridge, N.J. After Bob earned a Ph.D. in Psychology from NYU, he began teaching primarily graduate-level psychology at Seton Hall University, where he taught for over 30 years and served as a dean and the academic advisor for athletics. Bob completed his teaching career as a visiting professor at William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va., where he and Connie had spent their honeymoon 36 years earlier. Bob retired from teaching in 1996 and soon thereafter he and Connie moved full-time to Peaks Island, where the Hurley family had spent every summer since renting that cottage on Hadlock’s Cove in 1969 and where Bob and Connie had first built a home in 1985.

As one of his colleagues at Seton Hall once wrote, “Bob Hurley is the kind of person who leaves an impression that does not rapidly disappear.” He was truly one of a kind. In some ways, Bob fit the stereotype of a college professor: he was devoted to his students and a lifelong mentor to many of them, he was a voracious reader and an excellent bridge player, and until recent years he obsessively completed the New York Times crossword puzzle every morning. But in most other ways, Bob broke the mold. He rarely spoke like an academic and instead developed his own unique lexicon, a mixture of abbreviations and obscure expressions from his early years in Albany, his Army days, writers such as Damon Runyon, and his own somewhat twisted imagination. He had bizarre nicknames for his kids that have stuck to this day, and he was famous among his many nephews and nieces and later his grandchildren for his silliness and spot-on Donald Duck imitation. At family gatherings, he was typically the most mischievous member of the family who loved playfully teasing his grandkids—and loved it even more when they gave it right back to their beloved Poppa. Blessed with a strong voice from his Catholic school days, Bob loved belting out Irish songs, especially “Four Green Fields,” during family cookouts on the backshore of Peaks. He had a paper route when he was 15 and when he was 75.

Bob was also a huge sports fan. Beginning in the early 1980s, he led an annual pilgrimage of family and friends (only some of whom were “Charter Members”) to the Big East basketball tournament in New York, a tradition that is alive and well over 40 years later. Bob also organized the family’s annual NCAA basketball pool, which gave rise to the family text group “Poppa’s Pool,” which is still used daily today. (To be clear, Bob never sent a text in his life).

As a child of the 1940s, Bob greatly admired America’s Greatest Generation, who influenced his decision to serve his country in the Army and to volunteer in the communities in which he lived, whether as a coach, baseball umpire (known for his animated calls and generous strike zone, he was affectionately known, at least to pitchers, as “Low Ball Hurley”), or as a member of the first Peaks Island Council. Bob also picked up several other things from the Greatest Generation, including the occasional Manhattan and Lucky Strikes. After issues with his “ticker” surfaced in the early 1990s, Bob claimed to give up “the heaters” for good. In what must have been a coincidence, he then became much more helpful with errands and chores involving longer than necessary trips outside the house.

Bob traveled extensively during his Army days, and after their kids were grown, he and Connie enjoyed several trips to Europe and to the Caribbean with family and friends, including their lifelong friends the Webers and the Bachs. Bob and Connie also enjoyed many winters in Estero, Fla. before returning to their beloved Peaks Island, where Bob spent many glorious summer days on their front porch reading, working on the “NYTCWP,” and warmly responding to frequent calls of “Hi, Bob!” from people walking by. At that point Bob would often turn to Connie or whichever grandkid might be with him and ask, as the result of a lifelong difficulty placing faces and recalling names that we can’t completely blame on Alzheimer’s, “Who the hell was that?”

Above all else, Bob was a man of character and integrity who always put his family first. He was extremely proud of his children and grandchildren, to whom he wrote Valentine Day’s cards with loving notes (and $5 bills) and with whom he spent many happy days on Peaks Island making “RBFs” (root beer floats), playing cards and watching sports.

In addition to his wife, Connie, Bob is survived by five children, Kathleen Hurley of South Portland, Ellen Green (spouse, Loren) of Albany, N.Y., Michael Hurley (Laura) of Glen Ridge, N.J., Maura Chapey (Michael) of Wilton, Conn., and Matthew Hurley (Kelly) of Southborough Mass.; 16 grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; his sister-in-law, Carol Toomey, his brother-in-law, Bob Campbell, his sister-in-law, Eleanor Campbell; and 21 nieces and nephews.

Bob was predeceased by his parents; brothers-in-law Edward Campbell, Peter Campbell and Kenneth Toomey, sisters-in-law Patricia Campbell and Janet Campbell; and son-in-law, Timothy Easley.

The Hurley family would like to thank the amazing staff of the Maine Veterans’ Home who tenderly and lovingly cared for Bob over the past five and a half years and the team from Compassus Hospice who assisted with his care over the past several months.

Relatives and friends are invited to visit with the Hurley family on Thursday, Sept. 12, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Hobbs Funeral Home, South Portland. A funeral Mass will be celebrated on Friday, Sept. 13, at 10:30 a.m. in St. Christopher’s Church, Peaks Island. The Rite of Committal will be held in the Pond Grove Cemetery immediately following the Mass.

In lieu of flowers, those who wish to do so may make memorial contributions in Bob’s name to the Peaks Island Fund. https://www.peaksislandfund.org/