Quick Facts
Biography
Ralph Matthew McInerny (February 24, 1929 – January 29, 2010) was an American author and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. McInerny was a Roman Catholic and the creator of the popular Father Dowling Mysteries books. He sometimes wrote under the pseudonyms of Harry Austin, Matthew FitzRalph, Ernan Mackey, Edward Mackin and Monica Quill. He died of esophageal cancer on January 29, 2010.
Academic career
McInerny wrote his PhD dissertation entitled The Existential Dialectic of Soren Kierkegaard under Professor Charles De Koninck at Laval University (Quebec). He was Professor of Philosophy, Director of the Jacques Maritain Center, and Michael P. Grace Professor of Medieval Studies at the University of Notre Dame until his retirement in June, 2009. McInerny was also a Fulbright Scholar, receiving educational funds from the Fulbright Commission Belgium. He served as President of the Metaphysical Society of America in 1993.
McInerny's brother Dennis, also a philosophy professor, believes that his brother's greatest legacy is not to be found in his novels, but in his adherence to scholastic and Thomistic beliefs.