Rice mourns loss of Professor Emerita Edith Wyschogrod

FROM RICE NEWS STAFF REPORTS

The Rice community is mourning the loss of Edith Wyschogrod, the J. Newton Rayzor Professor Emerita of Religious Studies. She died July 16 in New York City at the age of 79.

	EDITH WYSCHOGROD

Wyschogrod joined Rice’s Religious Studies Department in 1992. She retired in 2003.

She authored many influential books on ethics and received numerous accolades. Wyschogrod was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Guggenheim Fellow, a fellow of the National Humanities Center and past president of the American Academy of Religion.

Her work centered on ethical and philosophical themes such as altruism, mass death and community, time and memory.

William Parsons, interim chair and associate professor of religious studies, said Wyschogrod will be remembered as an academic who lived by the principles she studied.

“Not only was her learning matched by an equally deep humility, but she was also a tremendous moral force,” said  Parsons. “She was a terrific role model for the department.”

Parsons also noted that Wyschogrod was instrumental in introducing the studies of famed French philosopher Emmanuel Levinas into mainstream thought. Like Levinas, Wyschogrod made ethical responsibility for “the Other” the foundation of her philosophical studies.

“Edith lived by altruism,” Parsons said. “She always considered others, even at her own expense.”

The levayah took place July 17 at Mount Moriah Cemetery in Fairview, N.J.

Wyschogrod is survived by her husband, Michael Wyschogrod; son Daniel and daughter-in-law Abby; daughter Tamar and son-in-law David Cooper; and grandchildren Meggie, Ezra, Paul, Aaron and Tracy.