The Society is saddened to report that Robert “Bob” McCoy passed away on Sunday, November 4. Dr. McCoy was the San Diego State University administrator/scholar behind the stage production of Buchanan Dying at the Little Theatre there March 18-20 and March 25-27, 1977, as part of The Institute for Readers Theatre Series. McCoy had written his dissertation on Updike’s short stories in 1974 at the University of Southern California.

Member James Yerkes says that Bob was “generous to a fault with information about his long personal acquaintance with Updike and a true gentleman scholar.” He is survived in San Diego by his wife, Arlene, and two sons.

We report with sadness that John Updike Society member Brent G. Worley, 64, died on April 16, 2012 after a long battle with cancer. A resident of Berks County, Pennsylvania, and a longtime member of the Governor Mifflin School Board, Brent was an avid reader and collector of John Updike’s works who had amassed a near-complete set of autographed first trade editions of Updike’s works. He will be missed.

Here is his obituary, as it appeared in the Reading Eagle. It contains details about the memorial service on Saturday, April 28, 2012.

Our sympathies go out to his wife, Professor Rebecca Baker Worley.

Yesterday marked John Updike’s 80th birthday, and in tribute The Christian Science Monitor offered 10 quotes “to commemorate one of America’s exceptional men of letters.”

Here’s the link to “John Updike: 10 quotes on his birthday.”