Longtime NWC professor hit and killed in accident

Posted 9/29/20

A longtime professor at Northwest College died last week after being run over by a vehicle on a Coulter Avenue sidewalk.

Dennis Brophy, 75, had been walking in front of Rimrock Tire when a …

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Longtime NWC professor hit and killed in accident

Posted

A longtime professor at Northwest College died last week after being run over by a vehicle on a Coulter Avenue sidewalk.

Dennis Brophy, 75, had been walking in front of Rimrock Tire when a car pulled out of the business’s parking lot and struck him, said Powell Police Chief Roy Eckerdt.

The driver of the vehicle, 21-year-old Shay Dillon of Powell, had been attempting to make a right-hand turn onto the state highway.

Dillon reported that he had been looking to the left (east) for oncoming traffic and never saw Brophy approaching from the right-hand side (west) of his car, Eckerdt said.

Brophy was trapped under Dillon’s 2007 Toyota Camry and dragged a short distance into the highway. Emergency responders were summoned to the scene shortly before 3 p.m. Wednesday.

Brophy was ultimately taken to a hospital in Billings, where he died of his injuries, Eckerdt said.

Brophy started at Northwest College in 1975 and retired in 2016, after more than 40 years of teaching at the institution. He then returned as an adjunct faculty member from January 2017 through May 2018, said NWC spokeswoman Carey Miller.

Thanks in part to his one-of-a-kind vehicles, the psychology professor was immediately recognizable in Powell and beyond. His truck, decked out in chrome, carried the words: “Big Bad Brutish Beast” and “Macho Mythic Monster Machine.”

“He was odd. I have to give him that,” said former NWC professor Jeremy Johnston, who was hired by Brophy and worked alongside him for years, “but he was so focused on the students.”

In a 2015 interview with the Tribune, Brophy said he particularly enjoyed encouraging creativity and watching people’s reactions to unusual situations.

“Professor Brophy definitely delivered a distinct dose of creativity in the classroom,” said Eric Silk, who worked with him at NWC. “He has impacted generations of students at NWC.”

Beyond the many students he influenced, Brophy’s legacy also lives on in endowments he funded at Northwest College and Washington University in St. Louis, his alma mater.

In a Monday statement, Northwest College President Stefani Hicswa called Brophy’s passing “an unspeakable tragedy.”

“The campus community is heartbroken,” Hicswa said. “He was an extraordinary man who will be missed by friends and family alike. We are deeply saddened and share our sincere condolences with all who knew and loved him.”

The Tribune will have a more complete remembrance of Brophy in a coming edition.

Chief Eckerdt said police are continuing to investigate the incident, including following up with witnesses, and plan to wrap up the work by the end of the week.

“Different people witnessed different parts, but there’s not one view of the entire incident,” Eckerdt said Monday. “So all [of] that has to be pieced together.”

He added that neither alcohol nor drug use is suspected in the crash.

Wednesday’s accident was the third traffic-related fatality in Park County this year. A one-vehicle rollover on U.S. Highway 14/16/20 east of Cody claimed the life of a 48-year-old Cody woman in July and a three-vehicle crash in Cody killed an 89-year-old man in August.

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