Dear LMU Community:
I am saddened to share that Mark D. Morelli, emeritus professor of philosophy, passed away on May 27, 2026, after a long battle with cancer. He was 77 years old.
Professor Morelli joined LMU in 1981 as a tenure-track assistant professor and, over the course of 41 years, helped shape the intellectual life of the LMU Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts and the Philosophy Department as a teacher, scholar, mentor, and academic leader. He taught generations of students to approach the deepest questions of human experience with rigor and care.
Professor Morelli’s scholarship centered on the work of philosopher and theologian Bernard Lonergan, S.J., and extended to Hegel, Plato, consciousness, self-knowledge, and philosophy’s role in culture. His teaching reflected that breadth, from introductory philosophical inquiry to advanced study of Plato’s dialogues, Hegel’s “Phenomenology of Spirit,” German idealism, and Lonergan’s “Insight.” Through his courses, books, essays, and mentorship, he invited students and colleagues to consider how philosophy illuminates meaning, knowledge, and truth.
In 1995, Professor Morelli established the Los Angeles Lonergan Center at LMU, with the support of then-President Thomas P. O’Malley, S.J. He directed the center from 1996 until his retirement and helped make LMU a significant home of the study of Lonergan and the Catholic intellectual tradition. He also founded and served for three decades as general editor of Method: Journal of Lonergan Studies, creating an enduring forum for scholarly conversation.
As chair of Philosophy from 1990-1995, he helped establish the current structure of the philosophy major. He authored the proposal for the LMU M.A. Program in Philosophy and served as its founding director for more than a decade. He was the first holder of the Robert H. Taylor, S.J. Chair in Philosophy and later was named Distinguished Professor of Philosophy. His work extended LMU’s voice into important scholarly conversations beyond the bluff.
Professor Morelli earned his Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in philosophy at the University of Toronto and his B.A. in philosophy at Santa Clara University.
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, at 3 p.m. in Sacred Heart Chapel. The family kindly asks that those who plan to attend notify them at mooshtaheri@yahoo.com.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations in Professor Morelli’s remembrance be made to St. Jude’s Children’s Cancer Center.
Please keep Mark, his wife, Moosh, his family, friends, and colleagues in your thoughts and prayers.
With care,
Thomas Poon, Ph.D.
President and Professor