Michael John Boyle

Michael John Boyle IV, of Ringwood and North Bergen, NJ, died peacefully on April 25, 2023, at age 79. He was a devoted husband, adoring father and grandfather, and beloved brother, uncle, and friend. Michael was a lifelong lover of literature, music, and art but his true love was in people. He was the person you could always strike up a great conversation with on a train and who always made anyone he spoke to feel like the most important person in the world.

Michael was born in 1943 in Jersey City, NJ. He graduated from St. Peter's Preparatory High School in 1961, then attended St. Joseph's Seraphic Seminary in Callicoon, NY for two years before graduating from St. Peter's College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in cursu classico. He would go on to earn two graduate degrees from Montclair State College. Michael started his career as an educator at St. Michael's High School in Union City and then moved on to a long and impactful career at North Bergen High School, where he taught Latin and English before serving as a Guidance Counselor until his retirement in 2005. Michael was also an adjunct professor of English at Ramapo College, Felician College, and Berkeley College. After retiring from academia in 2013, he moved on to what became his favorite job, grandfather.

Michael was active in the Catholic peace movement of the 1960s and 1970s, which emphasized acts of mercy and of non-violent civil disobedience. He volunteered extensively with the Catholic Worker in New York City and Tivoli, New York; an interview he gave on his experience is part of the official oral history of the Catholic Worker, which may be found at Marquette University. In 2016, Michael testified as a witness during the canonical inquiry into the life of Dorothy Day, which was presented to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and to Pope Francis as part of the cause for Day's canonization. The issues of pacifism, poverty, free speech, and social justice remained important to him throughout his life. A true Renaissance man, Michael traveled the world, spoke several languages both relevant and long extinct, and was a scholar of early and Medieval English literature.

Michael was predeceased by his parents, Michael John Boyle III and Florence (Tice) Boyle. He is survived by his wife Theresa (Martin) Boyle, son Kevin Boyle, daughter Megan (Boyle) McMahon and her husband Christopher McMahon, sister Beverly (Boyle) Celentano and her husband Thomas Celentano, brother Martin J. Boyle and his wife Maryann (Lukac) Boyle, sister-in-law Patricia Martin, and grandchildren Clare and Fiona McMahon, as well as by his nieces, nephew, and the hundreds of lives that he impacted as a devoted teacher and loving friend.

Visitation will be on Monday, May 01, 2023, from 4:00-pm-8:00pm at The Morrison-Etheridge Funeral Home in Butler, NJ. A funeral mass is scheduled for Tuesday, May 02, 2023, at 10:00am at St. Mary's RC Church in Pompton Lakes, NJ. For those who cannot attend in person but wish to celebrate Michael's life, the mass will be live-streamed via St. Mary's website, Facebook page, and YouTube channel.

In lieu of flowers, the family humbly asks that you honor Michael's memory by contributing to your local Catholic Worker House of Hospitality or to the breadline at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in New York City, reading a banned book, or just by doing what Michael did best: Touching someone's heart permanently with an act of kindness.