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In Memoriam: Robert Ammerman (1927-2021)

Professor Ammerman was emeritus in philosophy at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he spent his career.  Philosopher Mike Titelbaum at Wisconsin shared an obituary written by Professor Ammerman's son:

Robert R. Ammerman joined the Department of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin in 1957. He was born in Buffalo, New York in 1927, and moved to West Chester, Pennsylvania in 1937. In 1945, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and was assigned to the 88th Infantry Division in Italy. In 1947, he participated in the first U.N. Peacekeeping Mission in Trieste. Discharged in 1948, he enrolled at Swarthmore College in 1949, graduating with highest honors in 1953. After a year pursuing graduate studies in philosophy at Princeton University, he transferred to Brown University. He received his doctorate in 1956, completing his dissertation under the guidance of Richard Taylor.  He joined the Department of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin later that year, achieving the rank of professor. He focused his scholarly activities on the works of Ludwig Wittgenstein. He was passionate about teaching and introduced new and popular courses in diverse topics in and related to philosophy. He was a close colleague of William Hay, Marcus Singer, and Claudia Card.  With Dr. Singer, he edited Introductory Readings in Philosophy in 1962, which was widely adopted as a textbook around the country. His Classics in Analytic Philosophy, first published in 1966, is still in print. He retired in 1989. After living in Italy for a year, he settled in Florida until 2001, moving then to Cincinnati, Ohio to be closer to his son and grandchildren. He died on May 28, 2021 and is greatly missed by family and friends.

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One response to “In Memoriam: Robert Ammerman (1927-2021)”

  1. I am saddened to hear this. I know Professor Ammerman really in only a very unusual way: I came in possession of the minutes of a long-term committee in the UW-Madison Philosophy Department from 1952-64 that included his very crucial role in the performance of its duties, which was charged with overseeing and advising the curriculum of their Introduction to Philosophy course; he was, as I've been able to establish, the last surviving member of that committee which included Singer and Dretske among others. It was clear Professor Ammerman from the get-go with his appointment to the committee as an Assistant Professor that he was engaged and passionate about making the Intro course a solid contributor to the liberal arts, and anticipated many contemporary empirically-based concerns about addressing student needs and attitudes in relation to pedagogy that we see today. I wish this note will serve to salute his devotion to the excellence of undergraduate philosophy education, and for inspiring a tradition that I hope will continue not just at Madison, but throughout the profession.

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