Levittown English teacher, drama club director, poetry scholar, and veteran Thomas J. Quinlan passed away at age 98, writes Gary Miles for The Philadelphia Inquirer.  

For four decades, Quinlan dedicated his tenure at Abraham Lincoln High School in Northeast Philadelphia to introducing his students to literary greats such as Shakespeare and Emily Dickinson. In the 1960’s actor Sylvester Stallone was one of his students.  

Quinlan recited poems to his English classes every day. According to a Facebook tribute, some students still think of him every time they read a poem.  

Quinlan’s knack for Shakespearean literature was also reflected in his love for the dramatic arts, overseeing the school’s drama club for 20 years.  

His teaching spirit went beyond the high school walls and extended as far as China, where he taught conversational English. His school year was not just confined to regular hours, as he taught adult classes at night and summer school for struggling students. 

He spent 10 summers studying poetry at the Yeats International Summer School in Sligo, Ireland. His family established an annual lecture series named after him at New York University’s Glucksman Ireland House.  

Quinlan died from age-related decline at the Pine Run Village Health Center in Doylestown on Jan. 15.  

Read more about Thomas Quinlan’s life and legacy in The Philadelphia Inquirer. 

Seamus Heaney launches the Tom Quinlan Lecture, September 2011