Robert Mathieu Healey ’42

Bob, who became an eminent teacher and church historian despite being born with severely deformed arms and hands, died Apr. 16, 2004, at home in Savoy, Ill.

Bob prepared at Henry Snyder HS in Jersey City. He graduated from Princeton with honors in modern languages and was librarian of Gateway Club. Bob attended Yale Drama School and earned an MFA in playwriting. After four years as English instructor and director of plays at RPI, he entered Yale Divinity School. By 1956 Bob had earned bachelor's and master's degrees of divinity, was ordained a minister of the Presbyterian Church, and had married Yale librarian Edith Welle. The couple had two sons, Christopher and Paul.

After a stint at Dubuque Theological Seminary, he returned to Yale and earned a PhD in one year. Bob's dissertation, "Jefferson on Religion in Public Education" (1962) is in the official White House library. During his tenure (1956-91) as professor at the Theological Seminary of the U. of Dubuque, he had research sabbaticals in Paris, Edinburgh, and Jerusalem, and published three books on church history.

Bob was honored as Handicapped Iowan of 1977 and earned a Presidential Citation in 1978 for work with the Iowa Commission on Employment of the Handicapped. His son Paul survives him.

The Class of 1942