Friends and former students came together Monday evening to celebrate the life of a former Syracuse University professor, Ralph Ketcham.

Ketcham taught at SU for more than 35 years, focusing on courses in citizenship, history and political science. Ketcham died in April at the age of 89.

A memorial service for Ketcham was held on Monday in Hendricks Chapel. The first few pews were packed with attendees. In total, about 75 people congregated at Hendricks for the event. Most of the attendees were colleagues or former students of Ketcham’s.

Only a few tears were shed. Ketcham’s son, Benjamin, said people were there to remember his life, not bemoan the loss.

Brian Konkol, dean of Hendricks Chapel, opened the memorial service with the Bible’s Psalm 15.

“While no amount of words can summarize his decades of life and multitude of professional and personal contributions,” Konkol said. “Here, together, we can express what he meant and continues to mean to each and every one of us.”

Almost every speaker said Ketcham was a humble scholar who encouraged people to ask questions and learn. He was never condescending.

Ketcham started teaching at SU in 1951 as a graduate student, before then briefly working at the University of Chicago and Yale University. He then returned to teach at SU in 1963, according to the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. Ketcham retired in 1997.

He lead team-taught courses on democracy and American culture throughout his career in Syracuse.

And every year, Ketcham taught a symposium on the foundations of American political thought. He planned to lead the course this fall.

“He didn’t quite make it,” said David Bennett, a friend of Ketcham’s and Maxwell professor emeritus.

He was one of the most prominent scholars on James Madison, Bennett said. Ketcham published 12 academic books in his career.

Ketcham visited Japan in 1965 as a Fulbright visiting scholar. Following his visit, he established a scholarship program allowing students from Japan to study in SU’s graduate program.

Masako Iino was one of those students.

The Japan program offered students an opportunity to live in Ketcham’s home with his family, Iino said. The program lasted 10 years. Ketcham’s family brought Iino on trips across the United States so she could learn more about American culture.

Iino recalled how Ketcham would make his own lunch, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, at the breakfast table. She had never seen a man make his own lunch before in Japan.

Looking back, she said, her professional path started at Ketcham’s home.

Iino was the only individual at Hendricks to cry while speaking. She teared up talking about Ketcham’s legacy as a representative of his former students.

“His contributions to the education of young people in Japan and around the world is immeasurable,” Iino said.

Howard Mansfield, an SU graduate and author, got some crowd members to laugh during his speech. Mansfield took a citizenship course Ketcham taught in the 1970s. He said the professor never scolded his class, even when students did not know what was going on.

Ketcham also served Mansfield and his classmates the worst beer they ever had, said Mansfield. To Mansfield, the beer tasted like aluminum, and no one could finish a can, he said.

“He wasn’t showy or dramatic. He wasn’t a character. He had character,” Mansfield said of Ketcham.

Sherry Magill, another student of Ketcham’s, also spoke at the memorial service. Magill said Ketcham supported her dissertation at SU.

Members of Rapha Community, a church community Ketcham started, sang the memorial’s benediction.

Jim Naughton, an SU graduate and a partner at Canticle Communications, was a student of Ketcham’s in the 1970s. While Naughton served as The Daily Orange’s editor-in-chief, one of his friends insisted he take Ketcham’s class on American culture.

“Every class you would go in and go ‘Well, I don’t know what’s going to happen, but it’s going to be great,’” Naughton said.

Published on September 26, 2017 at 12:00 am

Contact Kennedy: krose100@syr.edu | @KennedyRose001