Robert J. Scally *67

Bob died Jan. 7, 2026, in Sag Harbor, N.Y., at the age of 88. 

Born in August 1937 in Queens, N.Y., Bob earned a bachelor’s degree at Queens College and his Ph.D. in history from Princeton.  

Bob built a decades-long academic career at New York University, where he was a professor of modern European history. The son of Irish immigrants who grew up in a cold-water flat, Bob’s early experiences stayed with him throughout his life, shaping a lasting respect for the lives and labor of ordinary people. He believed history was best understood through the lives of everyday people rather than through those with power. That conviction shaped his book The End of Hidden Ireland, an archival study of Irish peasant families during the Great Famine and the ways their individual lives and decisions shaped Ireland. 

Bob was the founding director of Glucksman Ireland House at NYU, which he helped launch at a moment when Ireland was emerging onto the global stage. Ireland House became a center for scholarship, dialogue, and cultural exchange. 

He is survived by his wife, Dena; his son, Terence; and his grandsons, Theodore and Dominic. 

Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.