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Professor Emeritus John F. Travers Jr., who was a faculty member in Boston College’s Lynch School of Education for more than 50 years, died on May 27 after a long illness. He was 84.
Dr. Travers, the author or co-author of a number of books on child development and educational psychology, joined the Boston College faculty in 1957. He retired from full-time teaching in 1995, but continued to teach on a part-time basis for several more years.
In 2004, he and his wife, Barbara, a librarian, wrote a reading skills and development textbook, Discovering Children’s Literature in the 21st Century — one of dozens of books and essays he authored on increasing children’s learning skills.
“He was well recognized as a scholar, a distinguished academic,” said Rattigan Professor of English Emeritus John Mahoney, Sr., who attended Boston College High School and Boston College with Dr. Travers and served as a fellow BC faculty member for many years.
“He was also an outstanding classroom teacher,” Mahoney said. “As a teacher in the School of Education, he was a model for those who studied with him.”
Dr. Travers had the rare distinction of being a “Quadruple Eagle” – having graduated from BC High, Boston College, and earning both a master’s degree and doctorate from the University. He also served in the US Navy at the end of World War II.
He is survived by his wife Barbara; children Elizabeth Eagan, Ellen Roche, John Travers III and Jane Travers; and seven grandchildren.
A funeral Mass for Dr. Travers was said on June 1 at St. Agnes Church in Arlington. Burial took place in Wildwood Cemetery in his hometown of Winchester.