Remembering Our Editor Michael Koch, 1947-2022
Michael Claude Koch, an editor and lecturer at Cornell University noted for having returned the Cornell literary journal, EPOCH, to national prominence, died at home on May 27, 2022, after a brief illness. He was 75 years old and had planned to retire from Cornell on June 30.
The magazine, which publishes fiction and poetry, and which had been foundering when he ascended from a staff position to the editorship 34 years ago, eventually won an award from O. Henry Prize stories as the best publisher of fiction in America, an award given in other years to publications such as The New Yorker.
Under his editorship, the magazine was honored many times by having its work republished in virtually every annual literary anthology in the United States, including Best American Short Stories, Best American Poetry, The Pen/O. Henry Prize Stories, New Stories from the South, New Stories from the Southwest, The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses, The Best American Non-required Reading, Best New American Voices, The Best American Mystery Stories, The Best of the West, Writer’s Harvest, The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, and Poetry Daily.
Michael taught creative writing courses at Cornell throughout his tenure on EPOCH and was a legendary classroom teacher as well as an especially attentive and successful undergraduate advisor, winning the Robert A. and Donna B. Paul Award for Excellence in Mentoring and Advising. He mentored graduate students also, taking on each year eight entering MFA students as associate editors of EPOCH, many of whom remained his friends even as they were becoming the next generation of famous writers—writers such as Téa Obrecht, Junot Díaz, Catherine Chung, Susan Choi, and Julie Schumacher.
Born on January 14, 1947 in Philadelphia, PA, the first of six children born in only six years, Michael grew up in the Philadelphia area and eventually attended La Salle College (now University), graduating with a degree in English. He then hit the road, traveling around the United States and ending up in California for a time. Next he enrolled in the MFA/fiction program at Wichita State, a site he chose because he admired the faculty and because Kansas seemed to him exotic compared to the Eastern Seaboard. After earning the MFA degree, he was awarded a Wallace Stegner Fellowship in the Creative Writing Program at Stanford University, where he met his future wife, Stephanie Vaughn, now a professor at Cornell, who is retiring on June 30.
In addition to his work editing and teaching on Cornell’s main campus during the regular school year, he also annually taught in an intensive 4-week summer program at Cornell’s teaching facility in Rome, a project he helped design, always enjoyed, and regarded as one of his achievements at Cornell until it was closed down by the pandemic.
Throughout his life, he was known for his generosity and his gentle wit. If you needed something, he would give it to you if he could—his time, his interest, his affection, even his money. He never took himself seriously enough to broadcast his achievements or otherwise draw attention to himself. He often signed his emails playfully, “Yours in Quality Lit.” As the oldest child when he was growing up, he was delegated to look after his five siblings whenever they went to the park down the street, inspiring one of them to say after his death that “he helped raise us.”
He loved the Phillies and the Jersey Shore. He loved Rome. He loved fiction and poetry. He loved being an uncle. He loved his friends and his family.
He was predeceased by his parents, Claude Francis Koch and Mary Philomena Kane Koch, and by his brother Christopher. In addition to his wife, he is survived by brothers Stephen (Katie), Gerard, Mark (Annie), sister Mary Jo Koch Hartz (Rich), and sisters-in-law Barbara Vaughn (Dennis Hahn), Mary Dehnbostel-Vaughn and Sandra Koch. Surviving nieces and nephews are Donald Koch (Kristine), Rachel Koch Mulligan (James), Moira Koch Kaniewski (Paul), Caroline Koch Lihou (Bill), Joseph Koch (Lieko), Colin Koch, Margaret (Maggie) Koch, Rory Koch, Maeve Koch, Max Koch, Alex Koch, Emma Koch.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to EPOCH. Please make checks payable to “Cornell University” and identify Epoch on the memo line. Mail to Department of Literatures in English, 250 Goldwin Smith Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca NY 14853.
Some testimonials from Michael’s students, assistant editors, and contributors:
Cara Blue Adams: “Sad to learn that Michael Koch, who edited EPOCH, has died. I was lucky enough to work with him three times, and he was incredibly kind. I’ll miss him”
Seph Murtaugh: “At a time when I thought everything I wrote was crap, Michael Koch emailed me out of the blue on the very last day to enter the Missouri Review Editors’ Prize and encouraged me to submit an essay. It won first place. I’m going to miss this guy, a lot.”
Cody Kilppenstein: “I’m very sad to hear of Michael Koch’s passing; he was a generous mentor, a brilliant editor, curator & steward of EPOCH Magazine, and an exceptionally kind person. I learned much from him at Epoch as an aspiring editor and contributor, and will miss him.”
Nate Brown: “Michael Koch, editor of EPOCH & my undergrad advisor (and one of the first people to take me seriously as a writer) died a few days ago. So many good memories of him and Stephanie Vaughn from Ithaca & from the study abroad program they ran in Rome. RIP, MK. 💔”
Ruth Joffre: “So sad to learn of the passing of Michael Koch, longtime editor of EPOCH. Years ago, I got to study with him at the summer program in Rome that he co-led with his wife Stephanie Vaughn, one of my mentors. That was truly a life-changing experience. Rest In Peace, Micheal 💔”
Rob Roensch: “Have a memory of Michael Koch at a Tim O’Brien reading standing in a side hallway (the auditorium was packed), head slightly tilted, listening as intensely as I have ever seen a person listen. He cared so much about stories.”
Michael Prior: “Truly, one of the kindest and quietly most brilliant people I've ever known. What an editor, what a teacher. My thoughts are with Stephanie right now.”
Andrew Porter: “So sad to learn of Michael Koch’s passing. EPOCH has always been one of my very favorite journals, and over the years Michael was kind enough to publish several of my stories, and I came to know him a little through that process, always such a warm, wise, and respectful editor.”
Rachel Coye: “Michael Koch made me want to be a kinder person. The Epoch office was a charmed place because of him.”
Karen Brown: “Deeply saddened by this news. Michael was one of the first supporters of my work—many stories found a home in EPOCH. His kindness and belief in me were life-changing.”
Alice Fulton: “A heartbreaking loss. Michael Koch nurtured generations of students—with steadfast gentleness and modesty. Words fail to encompass his influence and importance.”
David Staudt: “There must be a very heavy sadness in the office now. I worked on Epoch as a grad student for Michael many decades ago, and remember him as a younger man. He had such a great quiet passion for the magazine, and I remember him being very proud of excellent cover art he found among local artists. EPOCH was a fine magazine under his leadership. I was very grateful when he published a story of mine a few years ago without changes after an editor at McSweeney's demanded so many meddling structural rewrites that I just had to withdraw it from there.”
Jared Harel: “A sad loss for Cornell. Michael was always so kind to us.”
Holly Goddard Jones: “I don't want to overstate things and undermine the pain of people who knew Michael better than I did—and our entire relationship transpired over email—but this is heartbreaking news, and I'm so deeply sorry to hear it. Michael was one of the most supportive editors I've ever worked with. He published my 2nd or 3rd-ever short story back in 2007, and each time he accepted something of mine, I was newly delighted.”
Joseph Bruchac: “He always did such an amazing job as an editor, continuing to make EPOCH truly a unique and wonderful magazine.”
Jenna Abrams: “Michael Koch solicited my piece after reading it in MFA apps for Cornell, which I hadn’t gotten into. He took the time to reach out and ask me to submit to EPOCH at a time when my sense of myself as a writer, then unpubbed and in my 2nd yr of MFA apps, was fragile. He clearly was a person who went above and beyond, and I’m so grateful he did for me. We need more of that.”
Cori Winrock: “Michael Koch was a singular light—and the idea that light won't be part of the Cornell MFA experience is so hard to fathom. The picture below happens to be from my cohort's time at Epoch—one of the best jobs ever. What a generous and gorgeous human. What a loss.“
Tacey Atsitty: “I can hardly imagine the office without him, especially him coming out of his office to toss down a $20 bill while saying, ‘Go get yourself a bowl and a roll.’”
