John Corcoran ’84, Cyclist Killed in Crash, Remembered for Devotion to Family
John Corcoran died on Sept. 23 after he was struck by an oncoming SUV while riding his bike on Memorial Drive. Family and friends remembered him as a devoted husband, father, and friend.
The last time Jack B. Corcoran ’25 saw his father, John H. Corcoran ’84, he was bickering with his sister, Christine D. Corcoran ’26.
Their father was picking them up for dinner, and used the moment to share a lesson.
“He was saying, as we were getting to the car,” Jack Corcoran said, “‘You don’t actually live forever. You don’t have as much time as you think you do with your loved ones. And you should spend it doing something better than just bickering.’”
“It’s just one of my dad’s life lessons — he had plenty,” he added. “He taught us a lot. And that turned out to be his final lesson to us.”
John Corcoran died on Sept. 23 after he was struck by an oncoming SUV while riding his bike on Memorial Drive. He was 62.
Family and friends remembered him as a devoted husband, father, and friend, with a love for Shakespeare and a knack for connecting with strangers.
Reverend James A. Weldon, Jr. of Parish of the Good Shepherd — the family’s church — said Corcoran always “really saw the people and their stories.”
“Something I always loved about him was, when they would go, he would take his family to travel the world, but he always came back talking about the people that he had met,” he said. “He was more interested in the safari guide than he was in the safari animals.”
‘A Lively Character’
John Corcoran was born in Boston, Mass. in 1962. Like his father, he matriculated at Harvard, where he lived in Winthrop House and studied English.
When Corcoran’s roommate, Justin Kermond ’84, first met him in the Winthrop dining hall in 1981, he was struck by Corcoran’s charisma and captivating stories.
“Oh, he’s a character,” Kermond said. “He's a lively character who could hold a room with his great storytelling ability.”
Kermond added that Corcoran had a particular penchant for Shakespeare, and could be known to whip out a soliloquy from time to time.
Friends described Corcoran as a “Harvard guy” through and through. His father, Paul R. Corcoran, Jr. ’54, was a College alum, and his son and daughter are current undergraduates.
Weldon said Corcoran would talk about Harvard with a “twinkle in his eye” as he reflected on his family’s achievements at the college, and the opportunities it gave them in return.
“But there was a bit of wonderment how fortunate he thought his family was to be a part of that community and the ways that it had given them opportunities in life,” Weldon said.
After graduating from Harvard, Corcoran earned a law degree from Boston University, then worked for eight years at a law firm in Los Angeles.
While in California, Jack Corcoran said, his father went through something of a “dark age,” realizing law wasn’t his passion. He returned to the classroom, studying business at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
In a Philadelphia video store, he noticed a young veterinary student named Barbara Bower. As they exited, John Corcoran asked her what movie she had purchased.
The two wound up married for nearly 25 years.
“The rest is history,” Jack Corcoran said.
A Family Man
Despite a busy career as a successful financial analyst, John Corcoran made sure to prioritize what was most important to him: his family.
He took his children on long walks, carved out time for family movies, and never missed one of his son’s martial art classes.
“I would think he would always say that his favorite years were with the time that he spent with me and Christi and raising us and family, especially with my mom,” Jack Corcoran said.
Weldon said John Corcoran’s commitment to family deepened when he experienced a heart arrhythmia and underwent surgery during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“When you have a health scare in midlife, it has the potential to really help you think through what’s important in life,” Weldon said. “I saw that in him — and with the tragic way that his life ended, I am grateful that he had that health scare which led him to a more purposeful way of being a dad, being a husband, just a person in general.”
John Corcoran’s renewed outlook on life further strengthened after his own father died two years later, Jack Corcoran said.
“It just made him appreciate everything a lot more,” Jack Corcoran said.
When Jack Corcoran needed his own surgery a few years ago, his father took off work to stay with him throughout the entire day — the memory has stuck with him in recent weeks.
“I was just kind of coming in and out of consciousness, and he was there holding my hand,” Jack Corcoran said. “It was just a nice, empathetic moment.”
He added that his father took pleasure in everyday moments.
For Father’s Day one year, Jack Corcoran bought his father a card, which, when opened, played a chorus of dogs barking Hallelujah. For the rest of the day, even after everyone left, his father opened the card again and again to hear the song, laughing each time.
“He could just find joy in really small, funny things,” Jack Corcoran said. “That was a point of connection for us.”
‘An Innocent Victim’
John Corcoran’s death on a notoriously dangerous stretch of Memorial Drive spurred calls for improved bicycle safety in Cambridge and Boston.
Last month, Cambridge residents and activists demanded better bicycle infrastructure at a “ghost bike” ceremony at the site of the crash. On Monday, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation began construction on $1.5 million worth of road safety measures along the drive.
Cambridge Vice Mayor Marc C. McGovern wrote in a statement that Corcoran was an “innocent victim” to dangerous traffic.
“I would like to offer my deepest condolences to John Corcoran's family,” McGovern wrote. “He is the third cyclist killed in Cambridge in just a few months. It’s unacceptable."
Cambridge City Councilor Patty M. Nolan ’80 called Corcoran’s death “devastating” in a statement to The Crimson.
“I am glad that changes are finally being implemented to make the area safer for users,” Nolan wrote. “And yet, advocates have been asking for upgrades and attention to that dangerous rotary for years and it is tragic they were not made sooner.”
“We need to do more to slow down traffic, and transform our riverfront road into a parkway not a highway,” she added.
Jack Corcoran said that amid citywide conversations about bike safety, he has returned to his father’s advice during their last conversation.
“The last conversation we ever had would be about mortality,” he said. “For me, that’s really meant to spend as much time as you can with your loved ones and make fond memories.”
—Staff writer Sally E. Edwards can be reached at sally.edwards@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @sallyedwards04 or on Threads @sally_edwards06.
—Staff writer Asher J. Montgomery can be reached at asher.montgomery@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @asherjmont or on Threads @asher_montgomery.