Christopher James Bishop

“I know, I’m a true Geek,” Christopher James Bishop, German instructor, and one of the Hokie fallen, confessed in his blog in July of 2005.

To those who may not have known “Herr Bishop,” as he was known by his students, it could be puzzling to understand: who admits they are an actual “geek?”

But to those who were graced by the dynamic personality of Bishop, such an admission was the essence of his laughable, intuitive, and easy going personality. He was a comic book fiend, a lover of horror and a technology buff. He might have been a “geek” by his own admission, but to everyone else he was an amazingly down to earth and “cool” guy.

Bishop, a Pine Mountain, Georgia native, and University of Georgia Bull Dog twice over with a bachelor’s in German, and a master’s in

German linguistics, was head-over-heels for  languages; he was fluent in German, but had a working base of Italian and Spanish as well.

Will Bright, who took a class taught by Bishop in the fall of this year, described how he and Bishop could talk about anything.

“He was carefree, but full of energy,” Bright said. “He was from a different mold.”
Everyone who spoke of Bishop reiterated the same: Bishop was unique, hrefreshing, and very passionate in every aspect of his life.

“I’ve never had a teacher, never had a friend like him,” Bright said. “He was always attentive to his students, they were his number one
priority.”

Mary Paddock, an assistant professor in the German program, started her career at Tech the same year Bishop and his wife, assistant German professor Stefanie Hofer, began theirs.

“He was the kind of person that when you were with him, it was as though you were his best friend,” Paddock said. “Like you were the only person in the world. He could connect so easily, and made an effort to do so.”

Bishop’s roots in the mountains of Georgia were obvious from his love of the outdoors. He was an avid hiker, and was very eco-sensitive.

When he and his wife moved from Chapel Hill to Blacksburg, they made an effort to move close to campus so they could bike to work everyday, and they did: rain or shine.

“He was very concerned with the environment,” Paddock said. “He was conscious not to make things worse in the world.”

As passionate as Bishop was for languages and the environment, above all else, he held one love at what he called, “a near religious level”: art.

“He was really artistic in every facet of his life,” Paddock said.

Bishop’s early love of comics and graphic novels sparked his interest in art. Heavily inspired by Neil Gaiman’s “Sandman”, and Frank Miller’s

“Daredevil,” Bishop at first thought he wanted to pursue a career as a graphic artist. While he later realized his talents laid more heavily elsewhere, he continued to pursue his passion. Memory39.com was Bishop’s online portfolio where he updated and displayed his dabblings of art in the form of digital media. Bishop was an expert in Photoshop and an excellent photographer and combined these to create colorful and evocative pieces.

Rob Deane, a sophomore architecture student, gallery director for XYZ, the Virginia Tech student run art gallery, had met Bishop a few times at Stamtischt, a get together for students which Bishop organized in downtown Blacksburg restaurants to practice social German with one another. Deane, an artist himself, was thoroughly surprised at the power of Bishop’s talents from his website, and mentioned Bishop might have been soon on his way to re-enrolling into college art classes to more seriously delve into the world of artistic creative expression.

“He was a talented artist,” Deane said, “And by the nature of the way he presented his art, by its setup, it was an obvious expression about himself, and what he cared most about.”

One of the images that pops up on the screen when you peruse his portfolio are a pair of sapphire irises that belong to Bishop’s “frauline,” Hofer. He met her while studying abroad in Germany at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universitat in Heidelberg.

“He would mention his wife almost every class,” Bright said.

“He was crazy for her,” Paddock said.

Bishop was a “Jack-of-all-trades.” He could design a top-of-the-line webpage, and also discuss German literature. Perhaps he might strum on his guitar and hum a tune, and later get lost in the gorgeous Blacksburg countryside tubing in the New River while thinking of new artistic ideas to display on his website. His relaxed personality, and passion for teaching and education will be sorely missed among the Virginia Tech foreign languages department. Not because the lost his incredible abilities as an educator, but because of they lost an incredible friend.