Remembering Bill Cahir
August 14, 2009 at 10:55 am Tina Hay 3 comments
This morning brought the sad, sad news that Bill Cahir ’90 has been killed in Afghanistan.
Bill, who was 40, was a Penn Stater and the son of Penn Staters: his father, John Cahir ’61, ’71g, was the University’s vice provost and dean for undergraduate education, and his mother, Mary Anne Cahir ’63, ’68g, was Penn State’s director of development for the Philadelphia region. John and Mary Anne, both retired now, are wonderful people, and I can’t imagine their grief.
Bill was a news reporter for a time—and a very good one, I’m told—and later, in response to the Sept. 11 attacks, he enlisted in the Marines at the age of 34. Last year he ran unsuccessfully for Congress in the 5th district, which includes State College.
He did several tours of duty in Iraq and was serving in Afghanistan when he was killed. In addition to his parents and siblings, he leaves behind a wife who is pregnant with twins.
Tina Hay, editor
Entry filed under: Penn State alumni, University Park campus. Tags: 5th Congressional District, Afghanistan, Bill Cahir, Iraq, John Cahir, Mary Anne Cahir.
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1. Jere Willey | August 21, 2009 at 10:11 am
Simply took my breath away when I heard this. No words can convey my sorrow to his family. Hard to imagine the pain. Jere
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