Dear members of the International James Joyce Foundation,
Dear friends,
I write to inform you of the passing of our President, Claire
Culleton. She died peacefully on 7 April after a short illness. The
entire Joyce community is united in grief at this tragic loss. Claire
was a popular and respected member of our community and has left us
far too soon. Our loss is all the heavier given the recent deaths of
our esteemed foundation members, Mike Groden and Shelly Brivic. We all
have our own memories of time spent in Claire’s company. She was
invariably great fun and, like many of you, I personally treasure the
time spent with her at numerous Joyce events in Trieste, in Rome, and
at many Joyce symposia. She leaves a strong legacy and numerous
important publications.
As some of you will be aware, as President-Elect I have effectively
been acting President Foundation over the past several weeks and will
now assume the role of President in line with what is set out in our
by-laws. Over the coming weeks, we will seek nominations from among
the Trustees in order to elect a new Vice-President (and
President-Elect).
We will commemorate Claire at the forthcoming Trieste Symposium, which
should have been the first of her presidency. In the meantime, on
behalf of the International Foundation and the wider Joyce community I
wish to offer our sympathy and our prayers to Claire’s family at this
very difficult time. In their words: “Claire was brilliant in her
thought, her writing, and her conversations. The world is just going
to be a duller place.”
A short service will be held on Sunday, 11 April 2021, at the Bissler
Funeral Home in her hometown of Kent, Ohio.
May she rest in peace.
John McCourt