His brothers Malachy McCourt and Alphie McCourt are also autobiographical writers. In the mid-1980s Francis and Malachy created the stage play A Couple of Blaguards, a two-man show about their lives and experiences.
Life and work
Frank McCourt was born in Brooklyn, New York on 19 August 1930 to Northern Irish father Malachy McCourt (1901–1985) and Irish Catholic mother Angela Sheehan (1908–1981). Frank McCourt lived in New York with his parents and four younger siblings: Malachy, born in 1931; twins Oliver and Eugene, born in 1932; and a younger sister, Margaret, who died just a few weeks after birth, in 1935. Following this first tragedy, his family moved back to Ireland, where the twin brothers died within a year of the family's arrival and where Frank's youngest brothers, Michael (b. 1936) and Alphie (b. 1940), were born.
Unable to find steady work because of the Depression and Malachy Senior's alcoholism, the McCourt family returned to their mother's native Limerick, Ireland in 1934, where they sank even deeper into poverty. McCourt's father, Malachy Senior, from Toome in County Antrim, was often without work, and drank whatever little money he did earn. When Frank's grandfather from the North sent 5 pounds as a gift for his new baby brother Alphie, Malachy McCourt Sr. spent most of it in the pub. When McCourt was eleven, his father reluctantly left Limerick along with other Irishmen to find work in the factories of wartime Coventry in England. However, he rarely sent any remittances home to support his family, eventually abandoning Frank's mother to raise four surviving children, without any source of income. Frank's school education ended at age 14, when the Congregation of Christian Brothers (known at that time as the Irish Christian Brothers) rejected him, despite a recommendation from his teacher. Frank then held odd jobs and stole bread and milk in an effort to provide for his mother and three surviving brothers, Malachy, Michael (who now lives in San Francisco), and Alphonsus ("Alphie") (who lives in Manhattan); the other three siblings had died in infancy or early childhood in the squalor of the family circumstances. Frank McCourt himself nearly died of typhoid fever when he was 11. In Angela's Ashes, McCourt described an entire block of houses sharing a single outhouse, flooded by constant rain, and infested with rats and vermin.
Early career
In October 1949 at the age of nineteen he left Ireland on the MS Irish Oak that was supposed to stop in New York City but instead went up to Albany, NY. He took a train into New York City with a priest he had met on the ship, who got him a room to stay in and his job at New York City's Biltmore Hotel making about $26 a week and sending $10 of it to his mother in Limerick. In 1951 he was drafted during the Korean War and was sent to Bavaria, Germany for two years initially training dogs, then as a clerk. Upon his discharge from the US Army, he returned to New York City, where he held a series of jobs on docks, in warehouses, and in banks.
Teaching
Using his GI Bill from the US Army, Frank talked his way into NYU by claiming he was intelligent and read a lot and was allowed in on one year's probation provided he maintained a B average. He graduated in 1957 from New York University with a Bachelor's degree in English. He taught at a range of six New York schools, including McKee Vocational and Technical High School in Staten Island, New York City College of Technology in Brooklyn, Stuyvesant High School, Seward Park High School, Washington Irving High School, and the High School of Fashion Industries, all in Manhattan. In 1967, he earned his Master's degree at Brooklyn College and in the late 60s he spent 18 months at Trinity College in Dublin, failing to earn his PhD before returning to New York City.
In a 1997 NY Times Op-Ed essay, Mr. McCourt wrote about his experiences teaching immigrant mothers at New York City College of Technology in Brooklyn.
Writing
He received the Pulitzer Prize (1997) and National Book Critics Circle Award (1996) for his memoir Angela's Ashes (1996), which details his impoverished childhood in Limerick. He also authored 'Tis (1999), which continues the narrative of his life, picking up from the end of the previous book and focusing on life as a new immigrant in America. Teacher Man (2005) detailed the challenges of being a young, uncertain teacher.
Recognition
Frank McCourt at New York City's Housing Works bookstore for a tribute to recently-deceased Irish poet Benedict Keily
McCourt was a member of the National Arts Club and was a recipient of the Award of Excellence from The International Center in New York. In 1998, McCourt was honored as the Irish American of the Year by Irish America magazine. In 2002 he was awarded an honorary degree from The University of Western Ontario.
In October 2009, the New York City Department of Education, along with several partners from the community, founded The Frank McCourt High School of Writing, Journalism, and Literature, a screened-admissions public high school. The school is located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan on West 84th Street. The Frank McCourt School is one of four small schools designated to fill the campus of the former Louis D. Brandeis High School. The Frank McCourt High School began classes September 2010. The first principal of the school is Danielle Salzbert, who previously served as acting principal at Khalil Gibran International Academy and as an assistant principal at Millennium High School (New York City). Among the many community partners of the Frank McCourt school are the Columbia Journalism School and Symphony Space.
Personal life
2006
McCourt was married first, in August 1961 (div. 1979), to Alberta Small, with whom he had a daughter, Margaret. He married second, in August 1984 (div. 1985) to psychotherapist Cheryl Ford. He married his third wife, Ellen Frey McCourt, in August 1994, and they lived in New York City and Roxbury, Connecticut. He is survived by Ellen, his daughter Maggie, his granddaughter Chiara, grandsons Frank, Jack, and Avery, and his three brothers and their families.
In his free time, McCourt took up the casual sport of rowing. He once sank his Wintech recreational single scull on the Mohawk River in New York, and had to be rescued by a local rowing team.
Death
It was announced in May 2009 that McCourt had been treated for melanoma and that he was in remission, undergoing home chemotherapy.[8] On July 19, 2009, he died from the cancer, with meningeal complications, at a hospice in Manhattan.
The Frank McCourt Museum
The Frank McCourt Museum was officially opened by Malachy McCourt on 14 July 2011 at Leamy House, Hartstonge Street, Limerick. This Tudor-style building was formerly known as the Leamy School, the former school of Frank and his brother Malachy. The museum showcases the 1930s classroom of Leamy School and contains a collection of memorabilia including items such as school books of the period and old photos, all donated by former pupils of the school. As well as having a large selection of Angela's Ashes memorabilia the museum has also recreated the McCourt home as described in the book using period pieces and props from the Angela's Ashes motion picture. The downstairs of the museum houses the Dr. Frank McCourt Creative Writing centre. The museum is run by Limerick artist Una Heaton, who operates a gallery and art school also in the building.
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