Timothy Brian Noone earned his PhD from CMS in 1987 with a dissertation entitled “An Edition and Study of the Scriptum super Metaphysicam, bk. 12, dist. 2: A Work Attributed to Richard Rufus of Cornwall”. Professor Emeritus Noone was most recently the Father Kurt Pritzl Chair in Philosophy at the Catholic University of America, where he was a much-loved mentor.
"The Pontifical Institute has lost one of her sons, a devoted alumnus and a great friend to many of us, Timothy B. Noone, who passed away on Sunday. Tim was the very first person I met when I arrived at the Institute in 1980: he welcomed me like an old friend and immediately marched me over to the Institute library to get my library card, his tacit assumption being that my first and greatest priority as a newcomer here had to be getting to the library. And Tim was like a big brother to me ever since, through good times and bad. I remember him once making a beeline for me at Kalamazoo after I’d hit a significant bump in life’s road, and when I lost my composure and thanked him, he said simply, “That’s what Toronto folk do. We’re family.”
Tim for many years held the Father Kurt Pritzl Chair in Philosophy at The Catholic University of America, where he became a much-loved mentor to his students. Born in Baltimore and raised in western Pennsylvania, he received his B.A. in history from Lock Haven State University. Here in Toronto, Tim earned his M.A. (1980) and Ph.D. (1988) in Medieval Studies from the Centre for Medieval Studies and his M.S.L. (1987) from the Pontifical Institute. He was an example of the very best that the Institute produced in those years, developing some staggeringly impressive skills as a philosopher, an editor of texts, and a codicologist. He put those skills to work as a member of the Commissio Scotistica, ultimately serving as the general editor of the Opera philosophica of Duns Scotus; he co-edited the forthcoming critical edition of Scotus’ Reportata Parisiensia. A few years ago, Tim graciously accepted my invitation to teach the Textual Editing course for our Diploma Programme in Manuscript Studies—honouring both the training he received from Father Boyle and our friendship even as he helped form the next generation of manuscript specialists.
Tim Noone’s c.v. was extensive, including over 50 articles and book chapters. He lectured internationally, at the École des Haute Études Pratiques, Université de la Sorbonne, Paris, the University of Freiburg, the University of Bonn, St Andrews University (also at my invitation!), the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands, the University of Cologne, and the Pontificia Università d’Antonianum, Rome. Tim delivered the 2010 Gilson Lecture here at the Institute, a talk he entitled “Of Angels and Men. Sketches from High Medieval Epistemology.” Past-President of the American Catholic Philosophical Association and past-President of the Society for the Study of Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy in North America, one of Tim’s last terms of service was as Vice-President of the European Societé pour l’Étude de la Philosophie Médiévale.
Tim spoke Latin fluently. He played his beloved harmonica even more fluently. He loved bourbon. And anyone who ever heard his irrepressible laugh will never forget it.
May he rest in peace."
- M. Michèle Mulchahey
Leonard E. Boyle Professor of Manuscript Studies
Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies