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Portrait of a Gift
The works of James Joyce have challenged, inspired and often confounded many generations of English majors, however, in the hands of Professor Edward Callahan—both Joyce and the class discussing him came to life. When Peter Merrigan ’88 recently decided to make a gift to Holy Cross, he found himself recalling many such classes with Callahan. “I knew right then what I was going to support,” says Merrigan, the president and chief executive officer of Taurus Investment Holdings, LLC, part owner of the Worcester Tornadoes and father of three.
In honor of Callahan, and in support of Irish studies at Holy Cross, Merrigan has created the Professor Edward Callahan Irish Studies Support Fund. “We were thrilled to hear about Peter Merrigan’s gift in Ed’s honor,” says James M. Kee, chair of the College’s English Department. Callahan, who was a “must take” professor, says Kee, “simply defined what a liberal arts education meant for several generations of Holy Cross students.”
Paige Reynolds, assistant professor of English says that: “The Callahan Fund will significantly enrich the experience of students and faculty alike by bringing interesting and exciting speakers to campus, support student and faculty research, and take better advantage of Irish cultural events. The sky is really the limit.”
Callahan, who is now retired and living part of each year in Montana, wrote to Merrigan after finding out about the gift, calling it a “wonderful surprise.” The Professor Edward Callahan Irish Studies Support Fund is a great testament to a man who has had “more influence on me than he even knows,” says Merrigan.