A memorial service for Joe Morton, a retired Goucher College philosophy department chair who founded a peace studies program, will be held at 1 p.m. June 18 at the Athenaeum on the school's Towson campus.
Dr. Morton, who was 80, died of cancer April 7 at Gilchrist Hospice Care. He lived in Towson.
Born in Budapest, he was the son of Tibor and Rose Morton, who were Jews living a Nazi-controlled country. His father, a visual artist, was general manager for Eastman Kodak in Hungary.
"Kodak made arrangements to get them out with counterfeit passports. My father, as a 6-year-old, was able to escape with his parents and sister," said his daughter, Rebecca Morton of Columbus, Ohio. "They sewed their jewelry in the lining of their clothes.
"They took a train to Munich and flew to Lisbon, [then] left Lisbon harbor on a ship bound for New York," she said. "They had an extended stay at the Hotel Wellington, and later settled in Rochester, New York."
Dr. Morton earned a bachelor's degree at Amherst College, where he studied Greek and Latin, and earned a doctorate in philosophy from the Johns Hopkins University.
He arrived at Goucher in 1963, served as chair of the philosophy department from 1978 to 1988, and founded the college's peace studies program in 1991. He retired in 2000.
"Joe always taught the senior seminar in the later Platonic dialogues," said a Goucher colleague, John Rose. "He said that Plato's later dialogues were the finest example of a thinker's capacity to critique himself.
"Joe was always ready to review and critique beliefs that he held to bring himself to a better understanding," said Dr. Rose. "I know many instances where Joe reflected, started from scratch, and arrived at an utterly transformed view on a subject. Joe was one of the most intellectually brave people I have ever known."
He said his colleague's interest in peace studies and conflict resolution evolved from joining students in demonstrations and protest actions against the military in the 1980s and 1990s.
"The peace studies program that started as a couple of courses became Goucher's first interdisciplinary major," Dr. Rose said. "It has become one of our most popular majors."
A vegetarian, Dr. Morton kept a bag of apples — purchased at the Waverly farmers' market — on his desk. Students were always welcome to have one.
He kept a sign on his office door that read, "Live simply so that others may simply live."
Dr. Morton began running in high school and completed marathons. He also took extended bike rides.
He took car trips in the Southwest and studied the Lakota Native American culture and philosophy. He also taught Lakota philosophy at Goucher.
In addition to his daughter, survivors include a son, Jason Morton of Hagerstown; a sister, Veronika Kardosh of Ramat Gan, Israel; and four grandchildren. Another son, Paul Morton, died in 1977. His marriage to Mary Elizabeth Corcoran Morton ended in divorce.
—Jacques Kelly