Denis Joseph Corish

BRUNSWICK – Denis Corish passed away on October 26, 2024, following a stroke.
Born in New Ross, County Wexford, Ireland, on March 19, 1935, Denis was the 5th and last child of Philomena and Denis Corish, a court clerk. His mother suffered from rheumatoid arthritis and died when Denis was only 7.
Denis thought he would enter the priesthood, so he matriculated at St. Joseph’s College, Maynooth. He loved Latin and Greek but majored in philosophy for its higher practical value. During his time at seminary he saw the light and left Maynooth with a bachelor’s degree, and then received a master’s from University College Dublin.
He moved to Toronto to pursue a PhD. After 5 years, he failed his PhD because an anonymous reviewer objected that “fledgling philosophers like Corish” should be commenting on the ideas of others, not offering their own ideas.
Royally peeved but determined, he moved to Boston, where he started again. Second time was a charm and he received his PhD with a dissertation on the philosophy of time from Boston University.
During his graduate student years he made ends meet as a “dorm mother” at Brandeis University, where he connected with the international student community and met his future wife, Chooi Siew, a student from Malaysia.
Denis and Chooi Siew married in Ireland. They bought a fixer upper on Lough Na Fooey, County Mayo, which had recently been used for keeping sheep. This cottage would be a place of great pride, solace, and plenty of work in future decades.
In a major stroke of luck, Denis was offered a position in the Philosophy Department at Bowdoin College, and he and his wife settled in Brunswick in 1973. He found a wonderful community at Bowdoin for the next 50 years. Denis held his colleagues on the faculty and staff in high regard and always knew somebody whose expertise or life experience made them the perfect person to consult for one thing or another. He also enjoyed connecting with students. His signature pedagogical tool was to have students read their papers aloud to him while he reviewed them, a half-hour exercise that was appreciated by some and was certainly terrifying to others.
Denis was curious about the world. He learned languages, collected mushrooms, talked to people, read constantly, and wrote poetry knitting together many of the topics he studied: math and science, history, nature and philosophy. He was long recognized around Brunswick as the guy who ran or walked in all weather conditions. Into his 80s he walked 50 miles a week, 2500 miles a year, and covered a distance that wrapped around the world multiple times.
Denis and Chooi Siew raised two children in Brunswick: Siobhan and Maeve. He was extremely proud of them and their accomplishments.
Denis is predeceased by his brother Eddie and sisters Joan and Betty. He is survived by his oldest brother Nick, his wife Chooi Siew, daughters Siobhan (Anders), Maeve (Rui) and grandchildren Axel, Liv, Benjamin and Tiago.
Denis requested there be no funeral or memorial service. Instead, he will be taken back to New Ross and set sail on the River Barrow.