http://articles.philly.com/2009-11-18/news/25284150_1_law-clerk-law-degree-distinguished-teaching
By Sally A. Downey INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
POSTED: November 18, 2009
Charles A.J. Halpin Jr., 88, of Hatboro, a professor who taught students at La Salle University for 55 years - longer than any other teacher in the school's history - died of cancer Sunday at Abington Hospice at Warminster.
Professor Halpin taught labor relations and management at La Salle from 1946 until 2001, when he was 80. He also was a lawyer.
When he retired, his teaching technique was described in an Inquirer profile as "efficient. Blunt. To the point." One of Professor Halpin's students, Talia Bilella, told The Inquirer, "I've taken him three times because he doesn't teach from the text - he uses life lessons to illustrate his points. Of all my professors, he got me most prepared for the real world."
Professor Halpin, who won a Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching in 1965, and told an Inquirer reporter, "I just can't imagine the world without work," had to go to court to keep his position at La Salle when he turned 70.
At the time, the school was pressuring him and a colleague to resign and offered them part-time positions at reduced wages. The professors sued in federal court, and won on appeal.
A native of Germantown, Professor Halpin graduated from North Catholic High School and earned a bachelor's degree from La Salle in 1943.
During World War II, he served with the Army's 17th Airborne Division in Europe. He was wounded in the Battle of the Bulge and earned a Purple Heart. In March 1945, he parachuted with his unit into Germany. He was the last out of his plane, he later told a reporter. After he jumped, the plane was shot down.
While home on leave, Professor Halpin married Elizabeth Ann Bergin, a neighborhood girl who had invited him to her senior prom at Hallahan High School.
After his discharge, he taught full time at La Salle and earned a master's degree from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania at night. He then earned a law degree from Penn.
"When he started law school, we had two children; when he finished, we had six," his wife said. The couple eventually had three more.
On days he wasn't teaching, Professor Halpin was a law clerk to a judge in Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia for 20 years. He was also an arbitrator and union consultant. When Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa visited Philadelphia in the 1960s, Professor Halpin got him to speak to his labor-relations class.
"Charles launched La Salle's reputation in human-resource management," said Paul Brazinak, dean of La Salle's School of Business. "He had a major role in developing leaders in our business community."
Professor Halpin enjoyed travel abroad, Las Vegas casinos, and spending time with his family at the Jersey Shore. He organized cruises with his children and grandchildren to Bermuda in 1994, and to the Caribbean in 2000. "We had a great time," his wife said.
In addition to his wife of 65 years, Professor Halpin is survived by daughters Elizabeth, Karen, Tina, Annette, Donna, Eileen, and Denise; sons Charles III and Joseph; and 23 grandchildren.
Friends may call from 6 to 8:30 p.m. today at Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church, 602 West Ave., Jenkintown. A Funeral Mass will be said at the church at 11 a.m. tomorrow. Burial will be in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Cheltenham.
