Friday, September 29, 2017
John Headley was my mentor, collaborator, and above all dear and trusted friend for the last 38 years. In the 1980s, we were often told we resembled each other and once I felt deeply honored when, at a scholarly meeting, someone greeted me as "John ... although your appearance has changed somehow." He would always spend some days in Boston on his way to Vermont in the summer, and we were delighted to offer him hospitality. He reciprocated by hosting us at Boston's finest restaurants ... or, on my visits to the Triangle, at the best that Chapel Hill or Durham could provide. His skills as a scholar were rivalled by his skills as a host and a gourmet. Whether you discussed history or menus with him, you would learn much in the experience.
Without his encouragement and insistence, I would not have undertaken certain scholarly projects. He helped me find my voice and my message.
His wit was keen but always courteous. His skill in criticism became a form of humane generosity. He was, as I came to learn from private conversations, enormously generous to those in need. His vision of the better side of our European legacy, one of reason, of comity, and of human rights can still inspire us. He was indeed as humane, and even perhaps as courtly, as the humanists he studied.
I grieve the loss of this exceptional scholar, close friend, and gentleman.
(Rev.) James M. Weiss, Department of Theology, Boston College
