Joao Cardoso, 76, teacher at Chestnut Hill Academy

João M. Cardoso, 76, of Glenside, a Chestnut Hill Academy foreign-language teacher for 29 years, died Monday, Aug. 5, at home of pancreatic cancer.

Born on the tiny island of Faial, in Portugal's Azores, he was a mediocre student who struggled with stuttering. At age 14, his mother sent him to a Seventh-day Adventist boarding school on the Portuguese mainland. The experience gave him an insatiable wanderlust, his family said.

In the mid-1950s, Mr. Cardoso served in the Portuguese army artillery, where he attained the rank of corporal. Afterward, Mr. Cardoso went to college in Collonges, in the foothills of the French Alps.

In 1960, he followed his parents to the United States and studied at Atlantic Union College in South Lancaster, Mass. After graduating in 1964, he married Dianne Wagner, with whom he had two sons, John-Paul and Andre. They later divorced.

His teaching career began at Greater Boston Academy in Stoneham, Mass., where he taught French and history for 11 years. After a stint at Blue Mountain Academy in Hamburg, Pa., he accepted a job in 1980 teaching French and Spanish at Chestnut Hill Academy.

He met Jennifer Binzen during a summer language program at Middlebury College. They married in 1983 and moved to Glenside. A son, Peter, was born in 1988.

At Chestnut Hill, Mr. Cardoso was valued as much for his originality and charm as for his expertise in languages.

"His methods were sometimes unorthodox, but always engaging," his family said in a statement. He would match-make in French and assign readings of Sartre, Camus, or Pascal to spur discussions on philosophy and the meaning of life.

He loved long-distance running, which he took up in 1979, and was a fixture in Fairmount Park's Valley Green.

He retired in 2009 and was diagnosed two years later with prostate, and then pancreatic, cancer. Despite his illnesses, he jogged until three weeks before his death. He enjoyed outings with family and "asked the hard questions about existence, purpose, and fulfillment," his family said.

In May, he decided to stop cancer treatments because they were debilitating. In June, he returned to his childhood home in the Azores to share his lost past with his family. He had not returned to the island since the 1950s.

The cancer became aggressive during his last six weeks home in Glenside. He died the way he wished - among family, reading the 121st Psalm.

"I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help," the psalm begins. "My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth."

Surviving, besides his wife and sons, is a granddaughter.

A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 15, at the Chestnut Hill Seventh-day Adventist Church, 8700 Germantown Ave. Interment is private.

Donations may be sent to the Friends of the Wissahickon, 8708 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia 19118, or via www.fow.org/.