GARRY BRODSKY

In the late 60s, I was a philosophy major in Professor Brodsky's American Pragmatism class. One day in class, being a fledgling Existentialist, I used the concept of Nothingness. A flicker pierced his eyes as he thought a moment and approached me in an engaging way. "Mr. Grace, he queried, what is this concept of Nothingness." "I am hoping that you can explain it to me." With that, he began to remove the desks in front of me clearing most of the first row into the hall as he repeatedly asked, "Is this Nothingness?" Finally he rested in front of me and I muttered something. Twenty-five years later, I was court appointed counsel to represent an illegal indigent drug addicted mother in a termination of parental rights proceeding in Superior Court. When my client was brought into the courtroom in her orange prison suit and in shackles, I thought of my exchange with Professor Brodsky - and I wish I had told him that I finally understood the concept of Nothingness - a concept only life can teach.
And that I did go on to also study Ludwig Feuerbach as he recommended to me.
His impact is life long. It as my good fortune to have had him in class.