Maverick Philosopher

Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Category: Obituaries

  • Dallas Willard Remembered

    Dallas Willard died on this date one year ago.  Here is what I wrote at the time.

  • So Long, Pete Seeger

    Peter Seeger is dead at 94.  Never forget, we are all just passing through.  A great song, my favorite version being this one. More on Seeger on Saturday night.  We'll have to get into his politics, but it would be a mistake to allow aversion to his political entanglements to detract from the enjoyment of…

  • Remembering Robert J. Fischer

    Bobby Fischer, supreme master of the 64 squares, died on this date in 2008, at age 64. The day after he died I received this lovely note from my old friend Tom Coleman: This is a death in the family. I thought of you the moment I heard the news this morning. Though not a…

  • E. J. Lowe (1950 – 2014)

    Via Feser comes word of the passing of E. J. Lowe, prominent contemporary metaphysician.  Only 63!  That's young for a philosopher.  Some will disagree, but I've heard it said, and I agree, that philosophy is an old man's game, and if the country of old age begins at 60, Lowe had just taken his first…

  • The Religious Side of Camus

    Albert Camus, one of the luminaries of French existentialism, died on this day in 1960, in a car crash.  He was 46.  Had he lived, he might have become a Christian. Or so it seems from Howard Mumma, Conversations with  Camus. This second-hand report is worth considering, although it must  be consumed cum grano salis. See…

  • Peter Geach 1916-2013

    Here is a Commonweal obituary. The obit contains a couple of  minor inaccuracies.  1. "Under his father's tutelage, one of Geach's earliest philosophical influences was the metaphysician J.M.E. McTaggart, who infamously argues in his 1908 book The Unreality of Time for, well, the unreality of time."  This title is not a book but  an article…

  • Carolyn Cassady (1923 – 2013)

    I thought of Carolyn in September and I thought I ought to check the obituaries.  She died September 20th at age 90, her longevity as if in counterpoise to the short tenures of her main men, wildman Neal Cassady, the Dean Moriarty of Kerouac's 1957 On the Road, and the brooding Jack Kerouac himself. Carolyn…

  • Helen Thomas

    Had she not disgraced herself about three summers ago, she would be better remembered now.

  • Dallas Willard (1935-2013)

    I met Dallas Willard only once, at an A. P. A. meeting in San Francisco in the early '90s.  I had sent him a paper on Husserl and Heidegger and we had plans to get together over dinner to discuss it.  Unfortunately, the plans fell through when a son of Willard showed up.  But we did…

  • So Long, Lawrence Auster (1949-2013)

    Lawrence Auster died early this Good Friday morning.  May he rest in peace and come to know what here below one can only believe.  Here is Laura Wood's obituary.  Auster's site will remain online and is well-worth reading.  I must say, however, that I consider him an extremist and share  Steve Burton's misgivings about his work.  Auster's attacks on distinguished…

  • Saturday Night at the Oldies: Van Cliburn (1934-2013)

    Van Cliburn, Cold War Musical Envoy, Dies at 78 Tschaikovsky, Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 23  

  • Ed Koch (1924-2013)

    Here is my favorite Koch quotation:  ''Listen, I love Boston,'' Mr. Koch said. ''It's a wonderful town to come up and visit, on occasion, but it's not New York. Boston is a very nice town, but compared to New York it's Podunk.'' That's Koch for you. Outspoken.  Testicular.  Not that I agree with the jibe. …

  • Giving Thanks for C. S. Lewis

    Here.  I forgot to mention yesterday that another notable Jack died on 22 November 1963.  Aldous Huxley also died on this date.

  • Bob Koepp Update

    Small world.  I just now ran across  a note  at John Pepple's place wherein he reports that Robert V. Koepp was a roommate of his in the mid-'70s and reminisces a bit.

  • Long-Time MavPhil Commenter, Robert V. Koepp, Passes Away at 60

    I was saddened to hear from Malcolm Pollack just now that Bob Koepp, who commented extensively at both our sites, died on 29 February of this year.  Ever the gentleman, Bob contributed to the discussions at the old Powerblogs site and here at the Typepad incarnation of MavPhil.  He had an M. A. in philosophy and studied…