Sad News from Brian Doyle

Beacon wrote:  “This is really bad so the surgery is to try to reduce it,” Doyle told The Beacon Sunday night. “And then probably chemo, but there is no healing. But if all goes well, I could get a year or maybe even two. They can’t delete it or fix it or cure it. The doctor thinks that if he can reduce it and shoot chemo at it, then it may be suppressed for long enough for a few more years of reading and writing and being with my wife and kids.”

StudentPilot wrote:I could go on and on about the profound and positive affect Brian has had on me during my short time on the Bluff.  

So smart and so skilled and so able to communicate with any age group regardless of their level of intellect.  

He'd be so proud I wrote all this without the punctuation of a comma but would still insist I should have done so without the use of a period too.  

Portland Tribune wrote:   On Tuesday, a GoFundMe account was opened online to help the Doyle family. Doyle, who turned 60 this month, and his wife, Mary, have three children in their 20s and live in Lake Oswego.

“The type of brain tumor Brian has will require an incredible amount of care, a ton of patience and a lot of money,” wrote Katherine Green of New Orleans, La., who began the GoFundMe campaign. “If we as a community of friends and family can relieve Mary and Brian and family of the burden of the financial stress associated with ongoing therapy, cancer treatments, rehabilitation and transportation costs, it would be incredibly helpful.

“Any donation small or large will be appreciated," Green wrote. "Mary may not be able to work, as she will be busy and exhausted, and to know we can help will be such a blessing.”  

StudentPilot wrote:He'd be so proud I wrote all this without the punctuation of a comma but would still insist I should have done so without the use of a period too.  

University of Portland wrote: The University of Portland lost a beloved member of our community when Brian Doyle, award-winning author and editor of Portland magazine for 25 years, passed away early this morning, May 27, 2017 from complications related to a brain tumor.

Brian, 60, is survived by his wife, Mary, their daughter Lily and twin sons Liam and Joseph.

“Brian exemplified God’s grace by how he lived his life,” said University president Fr. Mark L. Poorman, C.S.C. “He was a man filled with a sense of humanity and wonder, who was interested in everyone’s story and who saw everyone’s potential. His warmth, humor and passion for life will be deeply missed.”

Born in New York City in 1956 to James A. Doyle, a journalist, and Ethel Clancey Doyle, a teacher, Brian grew up in a large Irish Catholic family in a home peppered with Irish Gaelic. Brian always knew he would be a writer and credits his start to his parents, whom he described as gifted raconteurs and storytellers. Jim Doyle was head of the Catholic Press Association for thirty years, and Brian’s writings, like his father’s, reflect his deep Catholic faith.

After earning a degree in English from the University of Notre Dame in 1978, he went on to become the assistant editor at U.S. Catholic magazine and, later, a senior writer for Boston College magazine, before John Soisson hired him as editor of the University’s quarterly Portland magazine in 1991. Called “the best spiritual magazine in the country” by author Annie Dillard, Portland magazine, under Brian as editor, has consistently been ranked among the best university magazines in the country and, in 2005, won Newsweek’s Sibley Award as the top university magazine in America.

Brian has also authored many books of fiction, essays, and poems, including his novels "Mink River," "The Plover," "Chicago," and "Martin Marten," for which he won a 2016 Oregon Book Award for Young Adult Literature. His most recent novel, "The Adventures of John Carson in Several Quarters of the World: A Novel of Robert Louis Stevenson," was published in March 2017. His essays have appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s, Orion, The American Scholar, The Sun Magazine, and The New York Times, and have been reprinted in the annual anthologies from Best American Essays, Best American Science & Nature Writing, and Best American Spiritual Writing.

Other honors include the Catholic Book Award, three Pushcart Prizes, the Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (previous recipients include Saul Bellow, Kurt Vonnegut, and Flannery O’Connor), the John Burroughs Award for Nature Essays, and, most recently, the 2017 John Burroughs Medal for Distinguished Nature Writing for his novel Martin Marten, only the second work of fiction to be awarded the Medal in its 90-year history.

Funeral arrangements will be announced at a later date.  

Fr. Mark L. Poorman C.S.C. wrote:
Dear University of Portland Community,
 
It is with profound sadness that I share the news of the death of Brian Doyle, editor of Portland Magazine, award-winning author, and a much-loved member of the University of Portland community for over 25 years.  Brian passed away early this morning following complications related to a brain tumor.
 
Catholicism has always been central to Brian Doyle’s life and work.  With his trademark wit, wisdom, and joy, he shared the Holy Spirit with his countless readers – those blessed to know him personally, those who heard him read at schools and libraries across the country, and those who only knew him through the pages of his many books and essays.
 
Someone once said of Brian that he could see the grace in every corner of life.  He himself wrote “We think of grace arriving like an ambulance, a just-in-time delivery, an invisible divine cavalry cresting a hill of troubles, a bolt of jazz from the glittering horn of the creator, but maybe it lives in us and is activated by illness of spirit.  Maybe we’re loaded with grace.  Maybe we’re stuffed with the stuff.”
 
Certainly no one exemplified God’s grace more than Brian by how he lived his life.  He was a man filled with a sense of humanity and wonder, who was interested in everyone’s story and who saw everyone’s potential.  His warmth, humor, and passion of life will be deeply missed and his loss will be acutely felt here and beyond The Bluff.  In my final conversation with Brian he told me that all of his work at the University of Portland was an honor for him.
 
Please join me in offering condolences to Brian’s wife Mary, and their children, Lily, Liam and Joseph, and the entire Doyle family.  Funeral plans are pending, and I will update you as they become available.
 
Eternal rest grant unto Brian, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.  May he rest in peace.  Amen.
 
Sincerely,
Fr. Mark  

Fr. Mark wrote:  Dear Members of the University of Portland Community,

With deep sorrow, we invite all who knew, loved, and admired Brian Doyle to attend his Funeral Mass, which will be held on Friday, June 2, at 11:30 a.m. at St. Mary's Cathedral in downtown Portland. A luncheon with his family and friends will immediately follow at University of Portland's Bauccio Commons.

Brian Doyle wrote:Last Prayer

Dear Coherent Mercy: thanks. Best life ever.

Personally I never thought a cool woman would come close to understanding me, let along understanding me but liking me anyway, but that happened!

And You and I both remember that doctor in Boston saying polite but businesslike that we would not have children but then came three children fast and furious!

And no man ever had better friends, and no man ever had a happier childhood and wilder brothers and a sweeter sister, and I was that rare guy who not only loved but liked his parents and loved sitting and drinking tea and listening to them!

And You let me write some books that weren’t half bad, and I got to have a career that actually no kidding helped some kids wake up to their best selves, and no one ever laughed more at the ocean of hilarious things in this world, or gaped more in astonishment at the wealth of miracles everywhere every moment.

I could complain a little right here about the long years of back pain and the occasional awful heartbreak, but Lord, those things were infinitesimal against the slather of gifts You gave mere me, a muddle of a man, so often selfish and small. But no man was ever more grateful for Your profligate generosity, and here at the very end, here in my last lines, I close my eyes and weep with joy that I was alive, and blessed beyond measure, and might well be headed back home to the incomprehensible Love from which I came, mewling, many years ago.

But hey, listen, can I ask one last favor? If I am sent back for another life, can I meet my lovely bride again? In whatever form? Could we be hawks, or otters maybe? And can we have the same kids again if possible? And if I get one friend again, can I have my buddy Pete? He was a huge guy in this life–make him the biggest otter ever and I’ll know him right away, okay? Thanks, Boss. Thanks from the bottom of my heart. See You soon.

Remember–otters. Otters rule. And so: amen.