The Temple University community celebrated the life and legacy of JoAnne E. Epps on Friday, Sept. 29, 2023. At the service, Mitchell L. Morgan, chairman of the Board of Trustees, and Richard M. Englert, Temple University president, shared her impact and honored her life.

Welcome Remarks from Chair Mitchell L. Morgan

On behalf of Temple University, and so many of us who knew and loved JoAnne, I bid you a warm welcome. 

Lots of beautiful words will be said today. No one has ever accused me of being a poet, so I will be very brief.

This is an incredibly sad but wonderful opportunity to celebrate JoAnne’s life, cherish her memory and find strength in our time of shared sorrow. We are together, and we are unified. I think JoAnne would like that. 

As the chair of Temple’s Board of Trustees, I was JoAnne’s boss.

I can’t speak for JoAnne, but for me it was a tremendous relationship—I slept very well at night knowing that she was in charge.

And that was true even as we dealt with significant challenges. JoAnne’s intelligence, her calm demeanor, her warmth, all inspired great confidence in her leadership. 

I feel very lucky to have known her. 

I feel an indescribable pain to have lost her. 

And now, I am going to sit down, and quietly contribute my own thoughts and prayers to the enormous reserve of love for JoAnne that fills this arena.

Thank you.

Remarks from President Richard M. Englert

Across our university and our health system, the entire Temple family mourns the loss of our beloved president, JoAnne A. Epps, and we will continue to mourn for a long time.

But today is a “celebration of life,” and what a life it was, as you will hear from our speakers today.

I will focus my remarks on JoAnne’s impactful legacy for us at Temple that JoAnne has left for us

• a legacy of caring, competence, collaboration, commitment and always, always compassion.
• a legacy of a skilled leader bringing all of us together, especially in difficult times.
• a legacy of a passion for social justice and compassion for the most vulnerable in society.
• a legacy of ensuring the dignity of every human being
  • regardless of race, color or creed;
  • regardless of sexual orientation or gender identification;
  • regardless of age, disability, background, country of origin, political views, social position or status in life.

In other words, a legacy of fairness and opportunity and genuine respect for all God’s children and a celebration of the beautiful diversity of humankind.

JoAnne has left for us

• a legacy of hope and optimism for the future.
• a legacy best summed up by one of our graduates, Reggie Streater. Reggie mentioned in a newspaper article JoAnne’s statement to first-year law students. She would say, “Your job is to make the world a better place.”
• a legacy of dedication to evidence, the facts, disciplined research and an honest quest and respect for truth, no matter where it leads us.
• a legacy of providing everyone the opportunity to be well educated and to develop one’s unique talents and gifts.
• a legacy of listening to and engaging others of every age, and a legacy of selfless service for the betterment of others—a quality she embodied and modeled for me throughout the wonderful decades during which I had the privilege to work closely with her.

I know I can speak for all of the Temple family when I say that we will devote ourselves to carrying forward JoAnne’s legacy.

And shame on us if we don’t work together in love and common purpose to build on that legacy and make this world better.

All of us at Temple want to convey our most sincere condolences to her husband, Jay, and to the members of their extended families. 

Thank you for loaning JoAnne to us for so many years.

We mourn with you but we are comforted by the realization that her legacy has shaped and will continue to shape Temple University and the people we serve for generations to come.

We love you, JoAnne, and we’ll miss you. But we’ll never forget you. 

You and your legacy are deeply embedded in our hearts, our aspirations and especially our actions for generations to come.

God bless you, JoAnne, for all you have done for us and for showing us the way forward.