David O'Connell

Professor David O'Connell passed away peacefully on January 28, 2025, at his beloved family home in Decatur, Georgia. David was a devoted husband, proud father and grandfather, highly accomplished scholar of French Studies, amateur historian of Irish Catholicism in the U.S. South, U.S. Army veteran, family genealogist, and a beloved brother, uncle, cousin, nephew, brother-in-law, professor, role model, and mentor to countless people in his professional and personal pursuits.

David was born on November 27, 1940, in Brooklyn, New York. He was the second of three sons born to James and Alice (Fennon) O'Connell. He was a proud product of Jesuit schools, attending Brooklyn Prep for high school and St. Peter's College for his undergraduate degree. His junior year of college was an incredibly formative period of his life. He studied in Louvain, Belgium and developed a love for the French language and culture which he would maintain for the rest of his life.

David continued his education at Princeton University, where he completed his MA (1964) and Ph.D (1966) degrees in French Studies. During his years at Princeton, he held fellowships from the National Woodrow Wilson Fellowship Foundation in 1962-63 and 1964-65 and was awarded Princeton's Bergen Fellowship in Romance Languages in 1963-64. He researched his doctoral dissertation in Paris as a distinguished Fulbright

scholar in 1964-1965. His doctoral dissertation work was later published by the University of North Carolina Press in two volumes, The Teachings of Saint Louis in 1972 and the Instructions of Saint Louis in 1979. In France, another book that grew out of his dissertation was Les Propos de saint Louis (1974). It was published by Editions Gallimard with a preface by France's leading medievalist at that time, Professor Jacques Le Goff of the Sorbonne. The book is still in print to this day as a book of perennial interest and importance to the French nation.

Before embarking on his academic career, David spent two years in the United States Army. David completed basic training at Fort Benning, Columbus, Georgia in 1966. During the 12 weeks he spent in the Columbus area, David first read Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind. He gained an appreciation for Georgia's many attractive features, and promised himself that if he ever received a job offer there later in life, he would seriously consider it. When that job offer arrived, as the Chair of the Romance Language Department of Georgia State University, he and his family moved to Decatur, Georgia in 1988, where he lived in the same home for 37 years.

David served one year in Vietnam, where he was an intelligence officer with Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) in the Saigon area. David was honorably discharged with the rank of captain and his decorations included the National Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal, the Vietnam Campaign Medal, and the Bronze Star Medal. Upon his return from Vietnam in 1967, it was determined that David had sustained service-related hearing loss in both ears, especially the left ear. He never complained about his hearing loss and was very proud of his service in the U.S. Army.

During his 42-year academic career, David held tenured positions at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Georgia State University. During those decades he taught courses at all levels and was internationally known in the field of French Studies due to his many scholarly publications. From 1979 until 2001, as Field Editor of the Twayne's World Authors Series, an imprint of Macmillan / Simon & Schuster, he edited more than eighty books on various French literary and cultural topics. He also penned two books in the series, Louis-Ferdinand Céline (1976) and François Mauriac (1995). These so-called "Twayne books" were staples in university and other libraries across the country in the pre-internet era. In 1993 the French Government recognized David's work by awarding him the rank of "chevalier" in the Order of the Academic Palms (Ordre des Palmes Académiques).

Later in life he published several books with a Georgia focus. They include The Irish Roots of Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind (1996,2017), Furl that Banner, The Life of Abram J. Ryan, the Poet Priest of the South (2008), and The Art and Life of Atlanta Artist Wilbur G. Kurtz: Inspired by Southern History (2013).

David was a lifelong sports fan. At Brooklyn Prep, he wore number 10 for the varsity football, basketball, and baseball teams. He grew up rooting for the Brooklyn Dodgers over the radio as a boy and then, during his adult years, he always followed closely the home team, including the Mets, Red Sox, White Sox, and Atlanta Braves.

He treasured his wife Kathy and their five boys, and his favorite times were spent just being with his wife, children, and extended family. He loved attending and watching Atlanta Braves baseball games and Georgia Bulldog football games.

David was for decades an active member of the Archbishop Donoghue Division of the Ancient Order of Hibernians of Atlanta. In Decatur, he was a member of St. Thomas More Catholic Church where he was a lector for over thirty years and a member of the Fr. Thomas O'Reilly Council of the Knights of Columbus.

David was widowed by the death of his cherished wife Cathleen (Casey) O'Connell in 1978 and preceded in death in his immediate family by his parents, James and Alice, and older brother James (Carol) O'Connell. David is survived by his beloved wife of 44 years, Kathleen (Lavin) O'Connell, his sons David (Caitlin), Nathaniel (Alfred), Daniel (Daniela), Andrew (Erin), James (Kelly), brother Edward (Rita), and nine grandchildren: Joseph, Seamus, Michael, Edward, Thomas, Eva Sofia, Katherine, Julian, and Ciaran.

David's Visitation will be held on Friday, January 31, 2025, from 3:00 to 7:00 PM at A. S. Turner & Sons located at 2773 N. Decatur Rd, Decatur, GA 30033. The visitation will conclude with a prayer service and words of remembrance beginning at 6:00 PM.

David's Funeral Mass will be held on Saturday, February 1, 2025, at 9:45 AM at St. Thomas More Catholic Church. Immediately following the Funeral Mass, internment and a graveside prayer service will take place at City of Decatur Cemetery, 229 Bell Street, Decatur, Georgia 30030. Beginning at 12:00 PM, please join David's family for a reception with food and drinks to celebrate David's life at 716 West (the former Mary Gay House), 716 W Trinity Place, Decatur, Georgia 30030, directly across Trinity Place from St. Thomas More Church.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in David's name to the Saint Thomas More Catholic Church Capital Campaign.