You meet some people in life and they become instant friends. Such was my feeling for Joe McPhillips who died tragically, days before graduation exercises at his beloved American School in Tangier. Joe became a staple of Tangier life upon his arrival in July, 1962 after adventurous travels in South America, Europe, North and East Africa. He found a job teaching at the American School in Tangier and after 8 years became the Headmaster, a position he held, and reveled in, until his untimely death. He mixed with all facets of international and Moroccan society and became a fixture in the literary and bohemian Tangier of the 60’s and early 70’s. He indulged his love of the theatre through the School whose theatre benefitted from original dramatic and musical works by Paul Bowles. Throughout the years Joe called on his eclectic array of friends to deliver the annual commencement address: Tennessee Williams, Diana Vreeland, Paul Bowles, Oliver Stone. This year Jimmy Buffett delivered the keynote at commencement – five days after Joe’s death. To say that there is a void in the lives of his many friends in Morocco and around the world is an understatement, but nowhere is that emptiness greater or will it be more enduring than at the American School of Tangier and the alumni the world over whose lives have been influenced and inspired by his leadership, creativity, intellect and forceful personality.
I didn’t meet Joe McPhillips until I had left government work and opened Rick’s Cafe. Although one of Bill Willis’ closest friends, a stop at Rick’s just didn’t work out until we scheduled an event for Diana Kerry during the 2004 presidential election campaign. It turned out that Diana had taught in International Schools and she and Joe had a dear mutual friend, so he happily agreed to fly to Casablanca for dinner the night before the event. At dinner Diana and Joe reminisced about mutual friends, teaching abroad, an expatriate’s unique perspective and invariably conversation turned to the political situation in the US and the campaign at hand. Joe had a long history in supporting graduates of his school for admission to US universities and over the years not only American, but Moroccan students had been admitted to prestigeous schools through their hard work and Joe’s recommendations. He was distressed to see the levels of acceptance of Moroccan and other Arab candidates diminish in the post-9/11 xenophobia, and was very outspoken in his views leading up to the election – so much so that we helped him obtain his absentee ballot. After the election, whenever Joe and I would talk on the phone, the first 5-10 minutes would be spent lamenting the latest scandal out of Washington, D.C. and worrying about the long term effects this period in our history would have. Every time he’d come back from a trip to the U.S. he’d be steaming. I think Joe felt it harder having lived in Morocco for 45 years – a country accepting, tolerant, hospitable but allowing for indivdual privacy. I join the many thousands whose lives are better for having known him. Be at peace, Joe, we’ll continue the fight.
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