Philip Soergel

Philip Mark Soergel passed away unexpectedly at home in Columbia, Maryland, on Wednesday, January 7, 2026. He left this world only two months after his beloved wife, Marcia, of more than 40 years. He was heartbroken at her loss.

Born to Ray Clare and Donna Lee Soergel on May 23, 1959, Phil left home at the age of 16 to attend Muskingum College in New Concord, Ohio, before pursuing his doctorate in History at the University of Michigan. On his first day in Ann Arbor in 1980, he met the love of his life, Marcia Irene Willis, who swept in to help him unpack at their new housing co-op. They married on May 28, 1983, in Springfield, MA, and both would call Ann Arbor their cherished home for the next nine years, and remembered the city fondly for the rest of their lives.

An avid traveler, Phil first left home in 1977 for Trebur, Germany, on the Rhein as an exchange student. To complete the research needed for his dissertation and first book, Wondrous in His Saints, Philip and Marcia lived in Regensburg, Germany, for a year after their wedding on less than 700 DM per month. He befriended a manuscript librarian at the university library in Regensburg, Elisabeth Mayer, who gave up her Sunday walks to drive Phil around Bavaria to research obscure pilgrimage shrines. Phil made it to all but one of the seven continents and was planning another trip with friends to Paris, his and Marcia’s favorite destination.

In 1989, the two moved from the icy, overcast plains of southeast Michigan to the Valley of the Sun. Phil taught at Arizona State University in Tempe, where his beloved daughter, Elizabeth Lee, was born. After the publication of his acclaimed 1993 book, he became a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ, where Phil and Marcia welcomed their son, William James (now Tseten Dorje), into the world in 1995 after a challenging pregnancy. He also served as a visiting professor at the University of Bielefeld for a time.

In 2005, they moved to Columbia, MD, for him to teach at the University of Maryland, College Park. After the publication of Miracles and the Protestant Imagination in 2012, Phil was promoted to full professor before starting his decade as chair of the History Department, a term that ended in 2022. He was an exceptionally wide-ranging scholar whose interests included literature, music, art history, and the study of gender and sexuality; the Italian and Northern European Renaissances; the medieval and early modern church and lay religion; and both the Protestant Reformation and Catholic Counter-Reformation. Forever a fan of Martin Luther, in his later years, he was researching the continued cultural and social legacy of Lutheran church music.

A talented pianist, Phil’s wide-ranging yet discerning interests included opera, theater, literature, wine, fine dining, jazz, and even tango—though he was too uncoordinated for sports or dancing. He will be missed by all those with whom he shared his many passions.

Philip was predeceased by his father Ray Clare Soergel, brother Steve Dwight Soergel, and his much beloved wife Marcia Willis Soergel for whom he cared for five years after her first cancer diagnosis. He is survived by his daughter, Elizabeth (Michael) Kuhlman, and son, William (Oliver Armstrong) Soergel; his mother, Donna Lee (née Porter) Soergel, and sister Paula Elizabeth (David Kuhn) Soergel; by his aunt, cousins, nieces, and nephews; and by his many intimate and lifelong friends and colleagues around the world.

Friends and family are invited to attend the visitation on Monday, January 12, 2026, from 5:00pm to 7:00pm at Donaldson Funeral Home of Clarksville, P.A. (12540 Clarksville Pike, Clarksville, MD 21029). The funeral service will take place Tuesday, January 13, 2026, at 11:00am at the funeral home, with an interment to follow at Linthicum Chapel Cemetery (12155 Clarksville Pike, Clarksville, MD 21029). A celebration of life will be planned for the spring in the Memorial Chapel at the University of Maryland, College Park. Details to come.

For those who can not attend the funeral service in person and would like to watch the live-streaming of this service at the scheduled time please click HERE.

Flowers can be purchased on Donaldson Funeral Home's website, and charitable contributions can be made in his memory to Opera Baltimore or St. Anne’s Episcopal Church in Damascus, MD.