In Memoriam - John K. Duffy, Ph.D.

It is with deep regret that we report the death of Dr. John K. Duffy, a pioneer in the field of audiology who served as a prominent member of the Brooklyn College faculty for more than three decades. Professor Duffy died at home recently after suffering a series of strokes. He was ninety-three.

World War II interrupted his graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin, but after the war he returned and in 1949 earned his Ph.D. His mentor, Dr. Robert West, recommended him for an assistant professorship at Brooklyn College. He moved his family to Long Island and joined the BC faculty that same year.

Traveling on a Fulbright Scholarship, Duffy journeyed the length and breadth of India at the invitation of that country's medical association. He set up speech and hearing centers wherever he went and saw to it that many of his Indian students returned to the U.S. for training.

In 1950 Duffy established the Brooklyn College hearing program, at a time when no other college in the metropolitan area offered a course of study focused on hearing disorders and rehabilitation. He also established one of the first audiology and speech pathology centers in the nation at Lenox Hill Hospital. The affiliation with the hospital offered clinical practice and employment opportunities to Duffy's BC students.

In 1983, after thirty-four years at Brooklyn College, Professor Duffy retired. He was honored by granting the title of "professor emeritus."

Until his death Duffy spent his time promoting a reading program for young children. His professional passion was his intense conviction that all children should be taught to read, beginning in Pre-K. The fact that millions of the nation's children cannot read, he believed, is an unforgivable crime.

"Doctor Duffy was one of the leading figures nationally in the occupational-industrial hearing conversation," said his former student Dr. Maurice H. Miller, now a full professor of Audiology and Speech Language Pathology at the Steinhardt School of Education of New York University. "He introduced and pioneered the profession of Audiology in the New York City area and was . . . a unique, colorful, intuitive, master clinician."

Duffy "taught me the importance of doing all that was necessary to achieve intelligible speech and age-appropriate language in children with hearing impairment of all degrees," said Miller.

Dr. Duffy is survived by Ruth, his wife of 66 years; his son Dr. David Duffy; and four grandchildren. He was predeceased by his daughter, Jane.