Dr. Patrick Morgan, 82, died peacefully in Maryland on March 1, 2023, surrounded by family. Born in 1940 in Syracuse, NY, to George and Mary Morgan, and the oldest of four children, he grew up in Michigan, Illinois and New York. He received his undergraduate degree from the State University of New York, Binghamton, in 1962 – where he met his wife, Marilyn – and his PhD from Yale University in 1967.
A well-known expert in international security and nuclear deterrence, he taught political science at Washington State University for 24 years, giving the Distinguished Faculty Address in 1988 in recognition of his teaching and scholarship. In 1991, he moved to the University of California, Irvine, to take up the Tierney Chair in Peace and Conflict Studies, retiring in 2014. He was a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington DC in 1973-74, was a fellow at the Rockefeller Center in Bellagio, Italy, in 1997, and received three Fulbright fellowships over the course of his career – to Iran (canceled), Belgium, and China. He published numerous books, policy papers, and other manuscripts, many animated by his interest in preventing the outbreak of military conflict. He co-founded the Council on U.S.-Korean Security Studies in 1985, and was deeply engaged in academic and policy discussions about defense and security in Europe and Asia. He also was a devoted teacher who always enjoyed chatting with students about their ideas and aspirations.