Patrick Carr, a renowned Bala Cynwyd sociologist who taught at Rutgers University, died on April 16 aged 53 after a near-decade-long fight with blood cancer, writes Alfred Lubrano for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Carr, a native of Ireland, was known for his dry wit, research on the destructive mistrust between police and youth in high-poverty neighborhoods, and love of Philadelphia Union.

He was married to Maria Kefalas, a St. Joseph’s University sociologist and expert on family, poverty, and violence. The couple wrote “Hollowing Out the Middle: The Rural Brain Drain and What It Means for America” together, which helped them achieve star status in academia.

They also established the Calliope Joy Foundation in honor of their daughter, who suffers from MLD, a rare and untreatable genetic disease.

In a story featured on the front page of The New York Times, Kefalas linked the death of her husband to coronavirus. Due to the rationing of blood supplies in Philadelphia, he was not able to receive enough of the transfusions he needed to battle anemia and start a round of chemotherapy.

Read more about Patrick Carr at The Philadelphia Inquirer by clicking here.