Morton J. Frisch

Morton J. Frisch, professor emeritus of political science at Northern Illinois University, died Sunday morning in DeKalb, Ill. He was 83 years old.
He was born Jan. 26, 1923, in Chicago.
Professor Frisch graduated from Hyde Park High School on Chicago's South Side. During World War II, he served in the Army Air Corps and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. After the war he graduated from Roosevelt University in 1949. Later that year, at the University of Chicago, he studied under professor Leo Strauss and received his Master of Arts. He received his doctorate from Pennsylvania State University in 1953. While at Roosevelt University, he met his future wife, Joelyn Saltzman.
He taught at the College of William and Mary from 1953-1964. In 1963 he was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to the University of Stockholm. In 1964 he joined the Political Science Department of Northern Illinois University, where he founded the graduate program in political philosophy. Professor Frisch was one of the nation's leading scholars of American political thought.
He taught at NIU, retiring from full-time duties in 1992, and continued teaching each year until his death. In the fall semester of 2006 he completed teaching a seminar in Aristotle's ethics. He had visiting appointments at the University of Minnesota, Pennsylvania State University, the University of Virginia, Oxford University and Knox College, and a second Fulbright Fellowship at Korea University in 1992.
Professor Frisch received research grants from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Southern Fellowships Fund, the American Philosophical Society, the Earhart Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. His work in American political thought was in defense of the tradition of constitutional statesmanship derived from the thought of the founders. He was the author and editor of eight books dealing with American political thought and especially Alexander Hamilton. His most recent book, which is on the Pacificus-Helvidius debates, will be published in the spring of 2007 by the Liberty Fund Press. He was the author of 23 articles and 12 book chapters.
His students hold academic appointments at numerous American and international universities. They also hold positions in think tanks, as well as private and academic research organizations.
He was the beloved husband of Joelyn; loving father of Hollis, Mark (Carla) and Rabbi Seth (Rabbi Robyn); adoring Papa of Jeremy, Ethan, Naomi, Benjamin, Noah and Talia; and brother of Jack (Esther) Frisch.
The funeral service was held at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 26, at Ronan-Moore-Finch Funeral Home in DeKalb. Burial with full military rites was at the Garden of Shalom in Fairview Park Cemetery in DeKalb. Friends may call at the family's home in DeKalb on Tuesday after the funeral until 9 p.m. and Wednesday and Thursday from 7-9 p.m. A short service will be held at 7:30 p.m. each day. Friends also may call from 7-9 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 30, at the home of Mark (Carla) Frisch.
In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to Congregation Beth Shalom, DeKalb, or the Northern Illinois University Foundation.