College Colleagues Remember Morton Shapiro

September 23, 2015
Categories: College of Humanities & Earth and Social Sciences, In Memoriam, News
Morton Shapiro

UNC Charlotte’s Morton Shapiro, 84, who retired as a member of the English faculty in 1993, died on September 11, 2015. He was one of the university’s original English Department faculty, and will be fondly remembered by his friends, colleagues, and students.

A visitation and remembrance was held Wednesday, October 7, from 5:30 until 7:30 p.m. at the Quail Hollow Estates clubhouse, located at 7301 Quail Meadow Lane, Charlotte.

Shapiro was born August 7, 1931, in Brooklyn, New York, to Hyman and Anna Shapiro. Morton, or “Marty” as he was known to his friends and colleagues, grew up in New York City. After Morton was discharged from the United States Army in 1955, he attended the University of Miami on the GI Bill, where he began to seriously pursue his love of literature.

Morton’s first teaching position was at Jacksonville State College, after which he earned his doctoral degree in American Literature at the University of Alabama. In 1964, Morton and his family moved to Charlotte, where Morton joined the English Department of UNC Charlotte. Morton was a much beloved and respected professor. His son, Samuel, also teaches at UNC Charlotte.

Morton was a founding member of Charlotte’s Film Society. After retiring, he continued to enjoy reading, attending movies, listening to classic music, and playing tennis. Morton remained committed to teaching, volunteering, and tutoring English at the International House, where he forged new, long-lasting friendships.

In a late September edition of his Monday Missive blog, English Department Chair Mark West remembered Shapiro. West wrote:

When I became a member of the English Department in 1984, many of the faculty members who had built the Department in the 1960s were still teaching, including Morton (Marty) Shapiro.  Marty joined the English Department in 1964 and continued to teach in the department until he retired in 1993.

I have many fond memories of Marty.  I remember talking with him about his childhood in New York City.  My father grew up in New York around the same time period, and this connection led me to feel a sense of kinship with Marty.  He was an avid lover of films, and I occasionally ran into him at the Manor Theater where we would talk a bit about whatever film we had just seen.  Marty helped found the Charlotte Film Society, and he sometimes shared with me news of the Film Society’s doings.  Marty was proud of his children, Sam and Julie, and he liked to talk about them.  I struck up a friendship with Sam, and Marty seemed pleased that his son and I were friends  The last time I saw Marty was at Park Road Books quite some years ago, but I remember talking with him about a course that Sam was teaching for the American Studies Program. I was the director of the program at the time, and Marty liked the fact that Sam was teaching at the same university where he had pursued his teaching career for nearly thirty years.

More information on Shapiro can be found here.