SUE LARSON Obituary

LARSON--Sue Howard, 79, died December 7, 2011 of injuries from a taxi cab accident on Riverside Drive. Professor emerita of Philosophy at Barnard College and Columbia University Graduate School, where she taught for over 30 years. Beloved teacher, noted Wittgenstein scholar, and ardent feminist, Sue obtained her BA and PhD from Stanford University and before her tenure at Barnard, taught at Mills College, Stanford University, and Princeton University. Sue is survived by nephews George Gatter of New York City and Brian Gatter and his daughter Gracie, of San Francisco, and by Elizabeth Koob and her daughter Hana of New York City. Donations to Amnesty International made in her memory would be appreciated (www.amnesty.org). A memorial service will be held on January 23, 2012 at 4pm at Barnard College, Broadway at 117th Street. For additional information call E. Koob 212-781-3049.

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Published by New York Times on Dec. 18, 2011.

Memories and Condolences
for SUE LARSON

Sponsored by Elizabeth Koob.

13 Entries

Orna Shachar

June 5, 2020

I have studied Philosophy with Sue at Columbia university for my doctorat, and was inspired to no end by her. We have done a close reading of Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigation together, and the spell of his writing, beyond words, was embodied by her. I shall never forget her.

Anthony Dardis

May 3, 2015

Sue taught a Metaphysics class in the Spring of 1974 which I took in my first year of college. I had no idea what metaphysics was; indeed I'm still not entirely sure. But we read Davidson's "Mental Events" and lots of stuff about causation. I had fun in that class, and my father suggested that I ask Sue about studying more philosophy. She was cautiously encouraging; at least she didn't say it was a terrible idea. So I did, and years passed, and I read "Mental Events" again in graduate school and still thought it was terrific, and in some sense organized my dissertation around an attempt to decide what I thought of it. So I think I owe my life in philosophy to her. I'm very sad to learn of her passing.

Helen Longino

March 10, 2014

I was a student of Sue's in my final year at Barnard. Her teaching inspired me to switch from comparative literature to philosophy for graduate work. She continued to be a powerful presence in my life through graduate school. Although I only saw her a few more times after I left the East Coast for California, her personality and commitment to philosophical integrity have been a continuing beacon. Thank you, Sue.

Elizabeth Koob

January 9, 2013

It has been now over a year since Sue left us but we miss her still so very much. Despite the breaks in her back, knees, foot, wrist and problems with medication Sue was the most vibrant person I have ever known. Her mind was amazing, simply astounding. The minute I met her I knew life would be ok. The depth of her understanding and compassion was immediate and unconditional. She was the ideal mentor for this farmland girl lost in the seven sisters big city college. Though her sharp intellect and lack of tolerance for injustice or pretension could be intimidating, her goodness was always there. College ended, life progressed with its lows and highs but I never forgot how much I learned from Sue. Nineteen years later I invited Sue to dinner and the rest is history. I am ever so grateful to have had this wonderful, loving, compassionate and generous person in my life.

Noa Latham

January 9, 2013

The first time I met Sue was in the spring of 1989. She had invited me to come and talk with her in her office at a date and afternoon time that she had proposed. When I found the entrance to the college I was surprised to see it was graduation day. There were throngs of graduates and faculty in gowns and academic robes and smartly dressed family and guests. I weaved my way through the crowds into Sulzberger Hall and asked someone for directions to Barnard Hall. A woman from the faculty overheard my request and gave me very precise directions. Feeling like an intruder, I made my way to the philosophy department, which consisted of a central lounge with adjoining offices. As there was no response to my knock on Sue's door and no one was around, I decided to wait. Within ten minutes or so, the woman who had given me directions arrived, holding forth to a small entourage of graduates and their parents. I was left to infer that this was Sue Larson as she promptly introduced me to them. As we sat in the lounge listening to her discourse, I noticed a large and conspicuous rip in her jeans that wasn't concealed by her gown. And her running shoes had also experienced a lot of use. Sue tried to refill someone's champagne glass from the large magnum she was carrying, but it was empty. At some point she opened up her office and some parents looked in without entering. I could see that it would be difficult to know where to tread as there were books strewn all over the floor. I wasn't at all sure what to make of my new colleague and department head. But I could see from the parents' faces that there was no such doubt in their minds. They were absolutely enthralled to have encountered the genuine article and to have experienced a glimpse of the education their daughters had evidently received.

During my years in the department Sue was very generous to me and concerned about all aspects of my well being, including my struggles to find any sort of love life. When I told her about my first meetings with Curt, I thought it hopelessly unrealistic when she commented that we might spend the rest of our lives together. Seventeen years later her prediction is right on track.

Sue had a profound love of philosophy and had thought deeply about a wide range of philosophical issues. She had a very forceful character and disagreeing with her I found not to be productive. But I did want to know her views about the issues I was working on, and as I got to know her better I was often able to steer the conversation that way without needing to say what I was thinking.

I fondly remember traveling out to see her at her Brooklyn and Long Island abodes. Sue had somehow acquired these properties with the intention of renovating them when resources permitted. Sue saw potential that the less imaginative would have missed. Ambitious architectural plans were drawn up for the multi-storied Brooklyn building, which was a major challenge to heat in the winter. I gained an admiration for Sue's hardiness during my first visit there for a wonderfully convivial thanksgiving with a group of her friends, patiently waiting for the turkey that took three hours longer to cook than Sue had estimated. The cottage on the north fork of Long Island was also rather primitive but a charming summer retreat that was well hidden from suburban sprawl and tourists. Both properties were eventually sold as Sue entered the sunny chapter of her life with Elisabeth.

It's very sad to learn that Sue is no longer with us. My life is certainly the richer for having known her.

Carolyn A Ristau

January 31, 2012

The remembrance which follows is based on my speaking at Sue Larson's Memorial at Barnard College on January 23, 2012.

I was a friend and colleague of Sue Larson's at Barnard College. I was teaching in the Psychology Department; she was in Philosophy.

How we met
It was one of those Barnard winter Holiday Parties. There's always delicious hors d'ouvres; and wine and conversation flow. Either Sue and I just started talking… or actually I think someone introduced us, saying we shared some common interests.

Soon we were deeply engrossed in a discussion, really an argument, about animal cognition and philosophy of mind. I was studying animal cognition, conducting field studies with birds and chimpanzees and Sue seemed quite interested. And likewise, I was fascinated by her penetrating questions, and rapid insight into central issues. Somehow from that conversation emerged an advanced level seminar we taught together at Barnard, entitled “Issues in Human and Animal Cognition.”

The seminar we co-taught:
The seminar was cross-listed in both Psychology and Philosophy and it was great fun [circa Spring 99 and afterwards]. I recall that the first time round we had only 4 students, two quite capable students and two extraordinary students. And we often had 4 faculty members too… a researcher in Animal Cognition (Ron Schusterman of Univ. of California, Santa Cruz) visiting at Columbia that year and had asked if he could sit in and then various other faculty members would occasionally stop in as well. Poor, beleaguered students…quite an exceptional opportunity for them …tho probably experienced by them as rather daunting – interacting both with ourselves and experts in the fields under discussion, as well as having to encounter Sue's quiet but sometimes quite formidable manner. This all created a demand for extremely high performance from those students. But the seminar certainly worked and continued for several years, with larger enrollments. However, as budgets have to be considered, it was finally determined that using two faculty for one seminar was not particularly cost conscious. Neither of us felt we could accept the suggestion of only one of us dealing with both the philosophy and psychology, so the seminar departed into oblivion. But it had been enormous fun!

An afternoon with Sue:
Finally I'd like to speak of my last afternoon with Sue…it was Monday, Dec 5, 2011, two days before the horrible taxi accident. There was no particularly outstanding event that Monday; a very ordinary day and rather typical of the times we would spend together, but it loomed large nevertheless as among the most pleasant times we had.

I was coming into Columbia to attend a lunchtime seminar and planned to meet Sue afterwards. I almost re-scheduled our meeting , for I realized that seminar was rather far from my interest and expertise… but I didn't, for Sue was expecting me.

After the talk, and after arriving at the beautiful apartment on Riverside Drive, we shared a few obligatory grumbles about the current state of politics and politicians and policies in the USA. Then Sue immediately and avidly began questioning me about the seminar. I, finding the seminar topic that day of lesser interest to me, had quickly tuned out and re-read some other notes. I couldn't possibly adequately answer her questions [about the evidence preferred by the speaker, my analysis , etc]…not too unusual a situation when confronted by Sue on many topics.

I had suggested meeting for a coffee, not wishing to trouble Sue with arranging lunch…but I saw that she had gone on a major expedition to D'Agostinos and we were to have lunch. A delicious seafood salad replete with succulent lobster and a cold cooked chicken marinated in balsamic vinegar with much rosemary. Cheeses- one a delightful Dane cheddar that to me didn't even taste like cheddar. Sue, of course, knew a great deal about cheddar cheeses…as indeed one was often surprised at her ability to expound on the most varied subjects. It seems she had once lived a month or two In Wisconsin…near a cheese factory…and had gone to visit and see its production. And remembered what she had learned so long ago.

Sue likewise was an excellent cook…apparently having learned a good deal while she was a grad student earning room and board by living with an elderly woman and cooking, under her supervision , a wide variety of exceptional dinners.

Sue enjoyed cooking. She always much appreciated “good quality,” including that of food. We both enthused about the new Fairways opened close to me…”good value for the quality of the goods,” pronounced Sue. She was a thrifty soul too.

For those of you who know the apartment, we sat in the living room on those deep, comfortable sofas, our lunch on the coffee table. The day was brilliantly sunny, sky blue, view out over the roofs and the Hudson River and George Washington Bridge, spectacular as it always is. Of course, Sue had seated herself so as to give me the best view of the landscape. And over our lunch, we shared part of a bottle of white wine… not my usual “under $10” bottle, but more of a splurge by Sue. Perhaps that too lent a glow to the afternoon.

I barely remember all we talked about for several hours. But we laughed, giggled at times like school girls over reminiscences of our childhoods. I marveled afterwards… how much fun it was to talk to Sue…how our conversations happily meandered thru old memories, politics, history, literature, philosophy, current concerns and pleasures about the “kids,” her's and mine, one of whom is Danny, today's violinist. Her “kids” now included not only Hana but Hana's two cats Otto and I forgot the other's name. Her own beloved Dalmatian Dooley was long ago gone and more recently her tiny dog Coco as well.

That afternoon, we laughed about some of the rituals people have, in particular those of our mothers. Sue had learned the “right way” to fold sheets and towels from her mother…she still did it that way.

I told her that afternoon also about the TV channel Al Jazeera in English, now available for American audiences in some cities including New York. She was most eager to know the specific channel which I was to call her about. I noted the occasional biased reporting , specifically about the WWII bombs in the German Rhine river that had just been successfully defused. The news item described the many tons of such bombs having been dropped by the British, made by the US. No mention of all the bombings the Germans were doing in London and elsewhere. This led to a further discussion of WWII.

Then other topics. As you all know, Sue's curiosity and intellectual breadth and depth was extraordinary. We shared some book titles. I'd browsed through one in the apartment: short vignettes, “History in Trade.” Hana was reading it in High School, an Advanced Placement course, though Hana, was still a Sophomore. The book blurb had noted “intended for undergrad or grad students.” “She's very bright,” said Sue proudly.

And of course I recall when Hana first came into Sue's life. What absolute joy Hana brought. Sue had said Hana transformed her life. Sue was always so very, very happy that Hana was part of her family.

Ending
So for now, I shall simply say I am pleased that I was able to speak a while about Sue. And Sue, I shall miss you. I'm so glad I got to see you that Monday.

Thanks for the argument we had at the Barnard Christmas party over a glass of wine when we first met, then gave a course together…several times. I am glad you were part of my life.

program back cover

January 27, 2012

Memorial program p. 1

January 27, 2012

Marc Joseph

January 27, 2012

Sue Larson was a good friend and my dissertation advisor when I was a graduate student at Columbia in the late 1980s and early 1990s. I had done some work in the philosophy of language and mind before I became Sue's student, but it was she who helped me to see that the technical issues addressed by analytic philosophers are more than mere logic-chopping, and that fundamental metaphysical and moral issues are at stake in the work.

I first met Sue through Bruce Cooper, who was also one of her students. In fact, I think Bruce and I were two of her last students. I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to benefit from her instruction and inspiration.

As the chair of the Mills College Philosophy Department in Oakland, CA, I also want to remember Sue as a former faculty member here. She taught at Mills, which is the oldest women's college in the west, around the time she had completed her PhD at Stanford. She later went on to teach at Princeton and Barnard, of course, but before either of those appointments she was a Mills woman. We'll miss her.

Marc Joseph
Columbia PhD 1994

Franca Gioia

January 23, 2012

I only knew Sue in the last 8 months of her life, as her physical therapist. I enjoyed her very much and am absolutely certain she enjoyed the smallest of small talk we made in the aqua therapy pool in the company of other patients- each sharing their own stories.

Oni Isaac

December 23, 2011

Though i do not know you as a person, but as I read Prof. Naomi, words about you, I knew that the world as missed a gene. But your works lives on. My condolence to your lovely family you left behind. Adieu Sue larson

Naomi Scheman

December 20, 2011

I was shocked to see Sue's obituary in the Times this evening. It has been years since I last saw her, but she has so often been in my thoughts. I have missed her and always hoped to find her again, so it's crushing to realize that will never happen; I wish I had tried harder. I became a philosopher in her inimitable company, quickened by her brilliance,nurtured by her warmth, challenged by her arguments. In my day (Barnard class of '68) she was "Miss Larson", and along with "Miss Mothersill" she opened up the world of philosophy so completely that I didn't realize until later that women weren't yet entirely welcome there. I loved her, and will have to get used to missing her in a new and awfully permanent way. My thoughts are with George, Brian, Elizabeth, and Hana.

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