Erazim Václav Kohák

1933 - 2020

Erazim Kohak, a long-time resident of Sharon, NH, died in Prague, Czech Republic on February 8th of this year, with a memorial service held on February 16th in Prague. He was 86 years old. Professor Kohak was born in Prague in 1933. Because of their work in the resistance against the Nazis, Prof. Kohak's parents were both sent to concentration camps. His father, Miloslav Kohak, was at Mauthausen, his mother, Zdislava Kohak, was at Terezin. Both survived but, at the insistence of resistance leaders, the Kohak family fled Czechoslovakia in 1948 to save their lives.

Prof. Kohak earned his high school diploma in Honeoye Falls, NY where the family settled. After earning his Bachelor's degree at Colgate, Prof. Kohak earned his Master's and Ph.D. at Yale. In 1960 he joined the faculty at Boston University where he served as a Professor and Senior Lecturer. He returned to the Czech Republic in 1989 after the fall of the communist regime, where he contributed to the re-establishment of Czech philosophy and tried to arouse ecological awareness. He was invited by then President Vaclav Havel to serve as a Professor of Philosophy at the Charles University in Prague. He published twenty-nine books in Czech and in English, as part of the roughly five hundred publications to his name. His book, The Embers and the Stars, was inspired by New Hampshire nights which caused him to reflect on man's relationship to the natural order.

Professor Kohak is survived by his three daughters - Mary Zdislava Kohak, Katherine Alexandra MacPherson and Susan Kohak de Campo - as well as son-in-law Richard de Campo and grandson Christopher de Campo. If you wish to reach out to the family, please contact Susan Kohak de Campo at decampo309@comcast.net. We would very much like to hear from you and stay in touch.