Charles J McMahon Jr.—12/10/2022

McMahon, Charles Joseph McMahon, Jr., 89, of Chestnut Hill; formerly of Mt. Airy and Lafayette Hill; died Dec. 10, 2022. He is survived by his wife of 63 years Helen (nee O’Brien), their four children Charles J. III (Stacy Dutton), Elise McMahon, Robert J., David B.T. (Rebecca Berman), and two grandchildren, Veronica and Madeline. He was preceded in death by his daughter Christine. Charles is also survived by four siblings Anthony J. McMahon, Kevin C. McMahon (Ellen), Mary Ellen Smallwood (James), John A. McMahon (JoAnn), and by many nieces and nephews.

The eldest of five siblings, Charles was born July 10,1933 to parents Charles Sr and Alice McMahon (nee Shue), and grew up in the Germantown and East Mt Airy neighborhoods of Philadelphia. Charles stepped into the role of auxiliary parent at an early age, contributing to the family’s finances through a paper route and by winning a full scholarship to La Salle College High School. He attended the University of Pennsylvania on an NROTC scholarship, thus becoming the family’s first college graduate.

During college Charles served a summer aboard the battleship USS New Jersey, and after graduation as a communications officer and cryptographer on the minesweeper USS Thuben. He retired from the Navy after two years with the rank of Lt Jr Grade, and enrolled in a PhD program in metallurgy at MIT. Charles would go on to become one of the world’s leading authorities on steel fracture.

Charles married Helen June O’Brien in 1959, and their first two children were born in Boston during Charles’ time at MIT. The family moved to Philadelphia when Charles returned to Penn as a post-doctoral fellow in the newly formed Department of Metallurgy and Materials Science in the School of Engineering. A year later Charles was hired as a faculty member in the department, and spent the remainder of his academic career at Penn with sabbatical years at G.E. Research Labs in New York (1969), Cambridge University in Great Britain (1973), and University of Goettingen in Germany (1984). At Penn Charles trained many of graduate students and postdocs who went on to become leaders in industry and academic materials science departments throughout Europe, United States, and Asia.

In addition to his research program, Charles was a pioneering educator who authored two textbooks aimed at introducing principles of material science to undergraduates by examining the properties of familiar technology, mainly the structural components of the bicycle. He was an early adapter of interactive digital media and produced a series of video lectures and animated tutorials.

A lifelong physical fitness and sports enthusiast, Charles swam the backstroke in high school and college. He worked summers as a lifeguard in Ocean City, which in later years he described as “the best job I ever had.” Charles took up rowing in his 50s, and continued to row on the Schuylkill River into his 80s. His commitment fitness clearly served him well, as evidenced by a swift recovery from prostate cancer surgery on his sixty-fourth birthday. Two decades later he survived a devastating series of surgeries for pancreatic cancer. Although that surgical trauma subsequently left him frail, Charles retained a strong grip and a commitment to activism and scholarly pursuits for the remainder of his.

A devout lifelong Catholic, Charles was a passionate student of early Christianity and Church history. He carried a profound sense of gratitude for the support his family received from the Church, as well as a determination to return the complement by paying it forward. Upon retirement from Penn, Charles became a tireless advocate for the ordination of women, married clergy, and related reforms. Above all Charles embodied virtues of charity, integrity, self-discipline, and commitment to realizing a just and thriving society.

A Memorial Mass will be held on Saturday January 21, 2023, at Our Mother of Consolation Catholic Church in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia. Visitation begins at 10 am, followed by a Memorial Mass at 11 am.