Frank McCourt

Frank McCourt
McCourt in 2007 at Housing Works bookstore in New York City
Born	Francis McCourt (1930-08-19)August 19, 1930 Brooklyn, New York, United States
Died	July 19, 2009(2009-07-19) (aged 78) Manhattan, New York City, United States
Occupation	Memoirist, writer, teacher
Nationality	Irish-American
Spouse(s)	Alberta Small (1961–1979; divorced) Cheryl Ford (1984–1985; divorced) Ellen Frey (1994–2009; his death)

Francis "Frank" McCourt (August 19, 1930 – July 19, 2009) was an Irish-American teacher and Pulitzer Prize–winning writer, best known as the author of Angela's Ashes, an award-winning, tragicomic memoir of the misery and squalor of his childhood.

[edit] Life and work

[edit] Early years

Frank McCourt was born in Brooklyn, New York, on 19 August 1930 to father Malachy McCourt, an ex-IRA man from Ballymoney Antrim (1901–1985), and Irish Catholic mother Angela Sheehan from Limerick (1908–1981).^[1][2] Frank McCourt lived in New York with his parents and four younger siblings: Malachy, born in 1931; twins Oliver and Eugene, born in 1932; and a younger sister, Margaret, who died just a few months after birth.^[1] In the midst of the Great Depression, the family moved back to Ireland. Unable to find steady work in Belfast or Dublin and beset by Malachy Senior's alcoholism, the McCourt family returned to their mother's native Limerick, where they sank even deeper into poverty.^[1] They lived in a rain-soaked slum, the parents and children sharing one bed together, McCourt's father drinking away what little money they had.^[1] The twins Oliver and Eugene died in early childhood due to the squalor of their circumstances, and two more boys were born,^[1] Michael, who now lives in San Francisco, and Alphonsus, who lives in Manhattan. Frank McCourt himself nearly died of typhoid fever when he was 11.

McCourt related that when he was 11, his father left Limerick to find work in the factories of wartime Coventry, England, rarely sending back money to support his family. Eventually McCourt recounts that Malachy Senior abandoned Frank's mother altogether, leaving her to raise her four surviving children, on the edge of starvation, without any source of income.^[1] Frank's school education ended at age 13,^[1] when the Irish Christian Brothers ejected him. Frank then held odd jobs and stole bread and milk in an effort to provide for his mother and three surviving brothers.

[edit] Early career

In October 1949, at the age of 19, McCourt left Ireland, using money he had saved from a post office job.^[1] He took a boat from Albany to New York City with a priest he had met on the ship, who got him a room to stay in and his job at New York City's Biltmore Hotel making about $26 a week and sending $10 of it to his mother in Limerick. Brothers Malachy and Michael followed him to New York and so, later, did their mother Angela.^[1] In 1951, McCourt was drafted during the Korean War and was sent to Bavaria for two years initially training dogs, then as a clerk. Upon his discharge from the US Army, he returned to New York City, where he held a series of jobs on docks, in warehouses, and in banks.^[1]

[edit] Teaching

Using his G.I. Bill from the US Army, Frank talked his way into New York University by claiming he was intelligent and read a lot and was allowed in on one year's probation provided he maintained a B average. He graduated in 1957 from New York University with a Bachelor's degree in English. He taught at a range of six New York schools, including McKee Vocational and Technical High School in Staten Island, New York City College of Technology in Brooklyn, Stuyvesant High School, Seward Park High School, Washington Irving High School, and the High School of Fashion Industries, all in Manhattan. In 1967, he earned his Master's degree at Brooklyn College, and in the late 1960s he spent 18 months at Trinity College in Dublin, failing to earn his PhD before returning to New York City.

In a 1997 New York Times essay, McCourt wrote about his experiences teaching immigrant mothers at New York City College of Technology in Brooklyn.^[3]

[edit] Writing

He received the Pulitzer Prize (1997)^[4] and National Book Critics Circle Award (1996)^[5] for his memoir Angela's Ashes (1996), which details his impoverished childhood in Limerick. He also authored 'Tis (1999), which continues the narrative of his life, picking up from the end of the previous book and focusing on life as a new immigrant in America. Teacher Man (2005) detailed the challenges of being a young, uncertain teacher.

McCourt was accused of greatly exaggerating his family's impoverished upbringing by many Limerickans, including Richard Harris.^[1][6] McCourt's own mother had denied the accuracy of his stories shortly before her death in 1981.^[7]

McCourt wrote the book for a musical entitled, The Irish...And How They Got That Way, which featured an eclectic mix of Irish music; everything from the traditional Danny Boy to U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For."

[edit] Personal life

2006

McCourt was married first, in August 1961 (div. 1979), to Alberta Small, with whom he had a daughter, Margaret.^[1] He married a second time in August 1984 (div. 1994) to psychotherapist Cheryl Ford.^[1] He married his third wife, Ellen Frey McCourt, in August 1994, and they lived in New York City and Roxbury, Connecticut.^[1] He is survived by Ellen, his daughter Maggie, his granddaughter Chiara, grandsons Frank, Jack, and Avery, and his three brothers and their families.

In his free time, McCourt took up the casual sport of rowing. He once sank his WinTech recreational single scull on the Mohawk River in New York, and had to be rescued by a local rowing team.

It was announced in May 2009 that McCourt had been treated for melanoma and that he was in remission, undergoing home chemotherapy.^[8] On July 19, 2009, he died from the cancer, with meningeal complications, at a hospice in Manhattan.^[2]

[edit] Recognition

McCourt at New York's Housing Works bookstore paying tribute to Irish poet Benedict Keily, 2007

McCourt was a member of the National Arts Club and was a recipient of the Award of Excellence from The International Center in New York. In 1998, McCourt was honored as the Irish American of the Year by Irish America magazine. In 2002 he was awarded an honorary degree from The University of Western Ontario.

In October 2009, the New York City Department of Education, along with several partners from the community, founded the Frank McCourt High School of Writing, Journalism, and Literature, a screened-admissions public high school. The school is located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan on West 84th Street. The Frank McCourt School is one of four small schools designated to fill the campus of the former Louis D. Brandeis High School. The Frank McCourt High School began classes September 2010. The first principal of the school is Danielle Salzberg, who previously served as acting principal at Khalil Gibran International Academy and as an assistant principal at Millennium High School in New York. Among the many community partners of the Frank McCourt school are the Columbia Journalism School and Symphony Space.

The Frank McCourt Museum was officially opened by Malachy McCourt in July 2011 at Leamy House, Hartstonge Street, Limerick.^[9] This Tudor-style building was formerly known as the Leamy School, the former school of Frank and his brother Malachy. The museum showcases the 1930s classroom of Leamy School and contains a collection of memorabilia, including items such as school books of the period and old photos, all donated by former pupils of the school. As well as having a large selection of Angela's Ashes memorabilia, the museum has recreated the McCourt home as described in the book using period pieces and props from the Angela's Ashes motion picture. The downstairs of the museum houses the Dr. Frank McCourt Creative Writing centre.^[10]

[edit] Bibliography

• Angela's Ashes (1996)
• 'Tis (1999)
• Yeats Is Dead (chapter) (2001)
• Teacher Man (2005)
• Angela and the Baby Jesus (2007)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Frank McCourt

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Frank McCourt

• Frank McCourt at the Internet Movie Database
• IrishCentral.com Exclusive: McCourt's last moments - a real Irish send-off
• Frank McCourt - Daily Telegraph obituary
• New York Times obituary
• Write TV Public Television Interview with Frank McCourt
• Reviews of Frank McCourt's memoirs dead link 01-21-2013
• Teaching Secrets
• Late Author’s Younger Brother Remembers Childhood Poverty Depicted in Angela’s Ashes - video report by Democracy Now!
• Booknotes interview with McCourt on Angela's Ashes, August 31, 1997
• Frank McCourt file at Limerick City Library