Rites Are Today for USD Professor
A memorial Mass will be said today for Joanne Dempsey, professor of English at the University of San Diego, who died of heart failure Thursday at her Mission Hills home. She was 44.
Ms. Dempsey joined the USD faculty to teach English Renaissance literature in 1980, a year before she was awarded her doctorate in English from Harvard University.
“In many ways, she represented this university at its best--a person of character, faith and intelligence,” said Patrick Drinan, dean of USD’s College of Arts and Sciences. “Dr. Dempsey was a Renaissance scholar and was held in deep affection by her students and colleagues.”
Ms. Dempsey, a native of Mineola, N.Y., attended Newton College of the Sacred Heart in Massachusetts, where she won a two-year scholarship to Sophia University in Tokyo to study Western culture. Ms. Dempsey, who was fluent in four languages, also studied at the British Museum and Warburg Institute in London and at the American Academy in Rome.
Ms. Dempsey was devoted to the arts and was a patron of the Old Globe Theatre.
She is survived by her parents, retired Judge and Mrs. William J. Dempsey Sr. of Mineola, and a brother, William J. Dempsey Jr., who is with the district attorney’s office in Nassau County, N.Y.
The Mass will begin at 11:15 a.m. at USD Founders Chapel.
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