Noel J.J. Farley

Noel J.J. Farley was born on Christmas Day 1934 and spent his childhood in Dublin, Ireland. He had great craic (“fun” in Gaelic) playing cricket and excelled at it, playing for the Leinster Cricket Club and his high school, St. Mary's College. He was also an excellent student. He attended University College of Dublin and received a Bachelor of Commerce with First Class Honors in 1956. In his final year, he earned the highest score in Ireland on the national examination for the Bachelor of Commerce degree. The Prime Minister of Ireland then selected Noel as the sole recipient of a scholarship to attend Yale University in the United States to pursue a Ph.D. in economics. He packed up his belongings and took a ship to the United States in September 1956. He relished the academic rigor of his program and became deeply involved with research on the Irish economy. During his graduate work, he was introduced to Jean Turbert, a fellow graduate student at Yale (in French literature), and they soon began many years of loving marriage. They had two children together and eventually landed near Bryn Mawr College outside of Philadelphia where Noel was a professor of economics. He enjoyed teaching students, and they often said how caring and inspirational he was. Noel had a special fondness for international and immigrant students. He was also devoted to his research and writing, which he continued until late in his life - straying from pure economics to co-author a book, "Faith, Morality, and Being Irish.” In addition to being a consummate academic, Noel loved raising his children. He coached his son's sports teams, including organizing a soccer team to tour in England and Ireland in the summer of 1984. Noel lost his dear wife, Jean, to cancer in 1988, a loss from which he never fully recovered. In 2016, Noel moved to Denver, Colorado to be near his children and grandchildren. Noel succumbed to cancer on December 26th, 2021, one day after his 87th birthday. He is survived by his children and their spouses, Conor (Barbara) and Claire (Rodger), as well as his grandchildren, Aidan and Oliver Farley. His funeral will be held on Saturday January 8th at 2 PM at St. Andrews Episcopal Church, 2015 Glenarm Place, Denver, CO 80205.

Memorial contributions may be made to the "A Better Chance" program in Radnor, Pennsylvania (https://radnorabc.org/donate/). Noel and his family hosted a student in the program during the late 1970s/early 1980s.