Joseph J. Kockelmans

Dr. Kockelman's scholarly and professional achievements are well known, and I can little more add to what is already here. More than anything else, he was a kind and humble gentleman.

One of the defining experiences of my philosophical life was the course I took with Dr. Kockelmans on Aristotle's Ethics almost 20 years ago at Penn State. Dr. Kockelmans taught me to read carefully and thoughtfully. He showed me the way in which scholarship and genuine philosophizing can work together. I happen to be teaching again after an 11 year hiatus. The course I'm offering after this long break is on Aristotle's Ethics. So the course I had with Dr. Kockelmans so many years ago at...

I valued his contribution to existential phenomenology greatly.

Professor Kockelmans was one of the most important individuals in my academic and human development. He was on my doctoral committee at Pennstate from 1994-1999. And he served as a model for the kind of scholar I am and mentor I hope to be to my students. About seven years ago, I went back to graduate school to do another PhD, this time in Ancient History. When I told Professor Kockelmans of my plan, he was a bit skeptical. He wanted to see me settled in a nice philosophy position. But...

I had the good fortune to meet Joe Kockelmans in the late 60's, shortly after I joined the Physics department at Penn State. We collaborated in interdisciplinary teaching and conference organizing. He was a colleague and friend of remarkable intellectual gifts and professional achievement. In the 90's our paths drifted apart, but, by a stroke of luck, we reconnected for the last two years of his life to share reading, reminiscence and reflection. At a time when one has occassion to doubt the...

I had the pleasure of being taught by Professor Kockelmans while a Graduate student in Leuven Belgium. I particularly remember his enthusiasm for philosophy and his students. He had a very special way of making each and everyone of us feel special. I am a better person for knowing him.
Jan Jagiellowicz
Wellesley,Canada.

Joseph Kockelmans taught me what I needed to know in order to discover who I wanted to become. I often tell my students that he taught me how to read in graduate school, in the most important sense of being a "careful reader." I am glad that I was able to convey to him how much he meant to me professionally and personally, but I also know that it would be impossible for me to have expressed that sufficiently.

Like many others, Dr. Kockelmans guided me through graduate school at Penn State with a level of grace and scholarship that few others attain. I had the good fortune of being able to connect with him again in his twilight years, and he was as delightful then as always. Much of whatever success I have attained over the past twenty years I owe in part to Dr. Kockelmans.