Theodore J. Tracy (2006)

Theodore J. Tracy, S.J. (1916-2006) was born in Chicago where he lived throughout his active career. His life was dominated by his devotion to the Society of Jesus and his interest in the ancient world. He was educated at Loyola Academy and joined the Society in 1939, the year after graduating from Loyola University of Chicago. In 1942 he earned an M.A. in classics and philosophy from Loyola and began his teaching career at his alma mater, Loyola Academy (1943-7). He turned then to theology and was ordained in 1950 and received an S.T.L. from Bellarmine School of Theology (1951). He turned back to classics and enrolled at Princeton, where he received an M.A. (1954) and, at the age of 46, a Ph.D. (1962), writing a dissertation on the physiological theory and the theory of the mean in Plato and Aristotle under Whitney Oates. In the meantime, he served one year as an instructor at Xavier University in Cincinnati (1955-6) before returning to Loyola in Chicago where he became associate professor (1956-70) and chair of the department (1960-7). In 1970 he became associate professor at the new University of Illinois at Chicago Circle (1970-81), serving one year as chair (1974-5) while serving on the Board of Trustees of Loyola for more than a decade. In this period he served as first vice-president of CAMWS (1977-8). His publications were few, but not slight was his reputation as a nearly ideal colleague and teacher. A student of yoga, he maintained the notion of a mind-spirit balance that matched the balance of the love of antiquity and devotion to his faith. He died on October 2, 2006.