With great sorrow, we must announce the death of Stephen J. Molvarec, SJ, our friend, colleague, and immediate past-president. Steve died quite suddenly on October 24, 2024 of a pulmonary thromboembolism. He was 46. His passing is a great loss to all those who knew and loved Steve, including those of us who had the pleasure of sharing the NYSAEH with him.
Steve grew up in Buffalo and attended Canisius College, where he graduated in 2002 as a history major with minors in classics and philosophy.. He completed his PhD in medieval history at the University of Notre Dame in 2016 After joining the Society of Jesus in 2012, he also earned an MDiv. and a Licentiate in Sacred Theology, and was ordained in 2022. He taught at Marquette University before moving in 2022 to Boston College, where he was an Assistant Professor in the Clough School of Theology and Ministry.
Steve’s academic research focused on medieval religious life, with particular emphasis on the Carthusian tradition and on the history of medieval cities. He published numerous articles as well as two edited volumes and popular pieces and he presented papers and organized many panels at conferences both in the US and in Europe. Steve was a talented, enthusiastic, and rigorous teacher, whose courses ranged from Western Civilization to “A History of Religious Life in the West” to “Witches, Magic, and Demons.” He was also a dedicated member of multiple scholarly organizations, including the Société Internationale des Médiévistes in Paris, the Medieval Academy of America, and the NYSAEH.
Steve believed in “the value of organizations that bring scholars into conversation across institutions, disciplines, career stages, and national boundaries:” In his service to the NYSAEH, he put that idea into practice. First presenting at our conference in 2011 while a graduate student, Steve became a member of the NYSAEH executive board in 2023, and served as our president in 2025-6. He took the lead in organizing our most recent conference at SUNY Cortland which was a great success. Not content to simply discharge the standard duties of his presidential year, he directed his boundless energy and impressive organizational abilities to looking forward and to shaping the future of the NYSAEH. Under his leadership we improved our publicity and social media presence, developed a five-year plan for upcoming conferences, and began to develop a book prize and an annual webinar series. He was looking forward to hosting the conference in Boston in 2027, and had already lined up an impressive set of speakers and activities for us.
But no mere list of accomplishments can convey the essence of Steve. He was both intellectual and spiritual, both rigorous and kind, both sceptical and optimistic, both serious and infectiously funny. He was a loyal, self-effacing, and loving friend. One NYSAEH colleague remembers that he always began his email messages with “peace.” And he was, indeed, a man of peace.
We will miss Steve dreadfully. Moving forward, we will cherish his memory and will work to implement his vision of a thriving, ever-improving NYSAEH.
We welcome personal memories of Steve. If there’s something you’d like to share, please comment on this post or email nysaeh@gmail.com. We will collect them and post to our website.
