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June 20, 2009
Fredrick Sontag Dies At 84
I just read in the Los Angeles Times that Fredrick Sontag, longtime Professor of Philosophy at Pomona College, died last Sunday of congestive heart failure. Sontag, who was planning to retire this month, taught at Pomona College for 57 years. He was their longest tenured faculty member.
I met Professor Sontag a couple of times and I have read a few of his many published works. One the one hand, I doubt that there is much in his formal intellectual work with which I agree. Several of his views are, in my own view, seriously wrong headed. On the other hand, his personal and very positive influence on his students including both our children is something for which I have the highest admiration. He was there for his students in ways that few professors are. Here's one abnormal example from the Times obituary,
He often defended students on academic probation or at risk of expulsion. Sometimes he even bailed them out of jail.That was the case on Oct. 30, 2000, when he sought the release of Jared Essig, a 22-year-old senior with a history of mental illness who had been arrested on a shoplifting charge.
Sontag was driving Essig from the jail to his dorm when the student became delusional and pulled out a pocketknife, stabbing the professor twice in the neck.
Unaware of how badly he was hurt, Sontag, then 76, drove himself to the hospital -- but only after driving to his office to call the dean of students and leaving her a detailed message about the need to locate Essig before he could harm anyone else. Essig was apprehended a short time later.
By the time Sontag reached the emergency room, he had lost three pints of blood. He could have died from the stab wounds, which had missed his carotid artery by a few millimeters.
Most remarkable, however, was what happened after the assault: Sontag forgave Essig. He also found the young man a defense lawyer and testified on his behalf at the trial. Faced with a charge of attempted murder, Essig was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
As far as I know, and one can never be sure, he never bailed either of my kids out of jail and I don't think either of them was ever on academic probation but he did help them in many very direct and personal ways. Thank you Professor Sontag, we will miss you.
Posted by Duane Smith at June 20, 2009 9:13 AM | Read more on Religion |
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