As a faculty member in the Maxwell School Political Science Department for over 30 years, Gavan Duffy was known for his pragmatic analyses of headline-garnering international events, including arms control talks between the U.S. and former Soviet Union.

He was also known for his wit, good conversation, musical talent and the community he fostered within Maxwell, particularly among colleagues and graduate students. He regularly opened his home near campus for jam sessions in which he sang and played the guitar and banjo, as well as poker matches where friendly barbs were exchanged.

Duffy, associate professor emeritus of political science, died Sept. 6, 2025, in Syracuse. He was 75.

Duffy joined Maxwell in 1989, relocating to Syracuse in pursuit of the love of his life, Lily Ling, whom he’d met at Massachusetts Institute of Technology while pursuing a doctorate in political science.

“When I arrived at Syracuse in 2003, Gavan and Lily were the social hub in the department,” said Audie Klotz, professor of political science. “They hosted gatherings at their house near campus and made sure people far from home had a place to go on Thanksgiving.”

Brian Taylor, professor of political science, said Duffy brought humor to department meetings—but usually with a purpose. “For example, he once quoted a former professor stating, ‘The problem with the mainstream is that it’s shallow,’” he said. “I don’t know if that’s true about rivers, but Gavan was making a point about having a broad view of what counted as good social science research.”

Colleagues said Duffy built Maxwell’s reputation for multi-method graduate training, creating the first qualitative methods graduate seminar in the Political Science Department.

He published analysis of events such as the constitutional debates in Canada and Belgium and Henry Kissinger’s early diplomatic encounters with Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai. Duffy’s interest in politics developed while he was an undergraduate at the University of Houston in the 1970s.

His loved ones said he was passionate about women’s rights and other social causes and took part in demonstrations opposing the war in Vietnam. Once, his friends recalled, he was arrested with fellow students for protesting the removal of a grove of beloved apple trees. “As he recounted to me years later, the police took them down to be booked, where he gave them a fake name and was released,” said Thomas Ferguson, research director at the Institute for New Economic Thinking. “The story was typical of Gavan: he was perfectly willing to stand up for principle, but far from overwhelmed by the majesty of foolish authorities.”

Ferguson, who knew Duffy from his time at MIT and Texas, said these qualities showed up often in his academic work. “He was rarely deferential to authorities in the field and often would try out direct tests of whether what they were saying really made any sense,” he said. “When he thought it didn't, he forthrightly said so.”

Before joining Maxwell, Duffy was an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin and a lecturer at Northeastern University. In 1999 he served as a visiting professor at Oxford University—a move motivated largely by his desire to be closer to Lily, who was a faculty member at the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague.

Duffy was a self-taught musician and songwriter. With friends in Syracuse, he performed a range of music including classic country and alt-Texas. In recent years, he was proud to have been included as a songwriter in a prominent local-songwriter concert series.

Klotz said Lily once shared that she fell in love with Gavan because he made her laugh. “For sure, Gavan did have a snarky sense of humor, sometimes set to music,” added Klotz. “Both of them were also innovative scholars, but it's their deep love for each other that I will remember most.”

Duffy was predeceased by Lily, his wife of 34 years, in 2018. He is survived by his sister, Lynn Kasow (Duffy), her husband Andy, and several other family members and many friends, former colleagues and students.