John Callaghan, biology professor at USC Dornsife, served as university marshal for 30 years

John Lawrence Callaghan, Associate Professor Emeritus of Biological Sciences at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and a long-time human anatomy and sports psychology instructor, has died. He was 93.

Callaghan was a central figure at USC’s convocation and commencement ceremonies for decades, serving as university marshal from 1992 to 2017 and overseeing the beloved festivities that draw tens of thousands to campus.

Callaghan was born in Liverpool, England, in 1930. His mother, Florence, was a homemaker to four children and his father, Henry, who owned a local antique store. Some of his earliest childhood memories were defined by World War II. The family took nightly refuge in their bomb shelter, and his father, a member of a First Aid Party, went out each evening to attend to the wounded.

The youth club for boys in Liverpool run by the local Catholic Church provided welcome distraction for Callaghan. There, he met with his friends to play table tennis, often winning a plate of beans for dinner. It was the start of a lifelong passion for athletics as a player, coach and spectator. He’d go on to play tennis and rugby competitively in college and in the Royal Air Force (RAF). He continued playing golf and tennis into his 90s, despite a serious heart condition.

Callaghan served in the RAF for two years after high school, turning down a suggestion he stay on to become an officer in favor of pursuing a career as a teacher. He attended London’s St. Mary’s College followed by Loughborough College (now Loughborough University) in Leicestershire, completing his diploma of education in 1953.

He began teaching mathematics and physical education, first at Ratcliffe College near Leicestershire and later at St. Mary’s College. While there, he was given a sabbatical and enrolled in a year-long master’s degree program in physical education at USC Dornsife. It was a memorable first journey to America, comprising eight days crossing the ocean via ship and four days on a Greyhound bus to Los Angeles.

Arrival at Troy

At USC, Callaghan was impressed by the university’s elite athletics program, and he soon made lifelong friends with faculty and fellow students. He enjoyed his year in L.A. so much that he immediately applied for a PhD program at USC Dornsife after returning to England.

He completed his PhD in sociopsychology of sport in 1971 and began teaching as an assistant professor at USC. That same year he met his future wife, Mary Elizabeth Shea, while golfing at the Los Angles Country Club. They were married in 1975 and had four children: Kate, Anne, John and Peter. All four are USC alumni.

Callaghan briefly returned to teaching at St. Mary’s College as head of the Department of Physical Education, but in 1977 he accepted the role of director of international students at USC, and the family settled in America permanently. In 1981, he joined the Department of Kinesiology (since merged with the Department of Biology) at USC Dornsife and embarked on a nearly four decades-long career teaching anatomy, kinesiology and sports psychology classes to undergraduate students.

Since human anatomy is a required class for anyone applying to medical school or physical therapy programs, Callaghan taught thousands of students over the years. Despite the heavy class load, he also wrote hundreds of letters of recommendation for aspiring doctors, clinicians and professors, says Robert Girandola, associate professor of biological sciences, who frequently co-taught anatomy with him.

Girandola was impressed by Callaghan’s thorough grasp of his subject matter and his devotion to his students. “Our offices were close to each other, and he’d often say to me he didn’t have time to write letters, yet he always made the time,” he says, also noting that Callaghan’s teaching evaluations were consistently superb.

Family commitment

Callaghan and his wife were adventurous travelers, both for work and pleasure. From 1980 to 1986, he made frequent trips to India as part of the Indo-U.S. Subcommission on Education and Culture to help the country advance their athletic achievements in sports such as cricket. During those years, he gave a series of lectures in India, China, and South Korea, even taking a tour of the territorial line between it and North Korea.

In 1990, Callaghan was appointed by then provost Cornelius Pings to take on the role of University Marshal, responsible for organizing the university’s annual commencement and convocation ceremonies.

He chaired four committees annually, overseeing hundreds of staff and volunteers, and marched in the academic procession at the start of commencement festivities until his retirement in 2017. Thanks to Callaghan’s suggestion, USC began a special hooding ceremony for PhD graduates, a tradition that continues today.

Numerous celebrities spoke at commencement during his tenure, including Neil Armstrong, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Will Ferrell, but a humbler event stood out for him when he wrote his memoirs. In 2012, Callaghan was asked to officiate the marriage of his events assistant Jeff Olsen and Olsen’s fiance, Yu-Chun.

Dressed in his regalia on the front lawn of the Doheny Library, Callaghan was happy to oblige. “What a privilege it was as, dressed in academic robes and in as elegant a manner as possible, I played my part in uniting them in matrimony,” he wrote.

It was just one small example of his near four-decade commitment to the Trojan Family.

Callaghan died in May.

“John was a wonderful colleague. He will be best remembered for his encyclopedic knowledge of all things USC, traveling adventures to all corners of the world, and his dedicated service to our department. He was always ready to help in whatever capacity best served our program,” says Lorraine Turcotte, chair of the Department of Biological Sciences and professor of biological sciences.