Irwin Chester Lieb ’48

CHET LIEB died in Pasadena on May 23, 1992, after a long illness but just before his magnum Opus, PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE: A PHILOSOPHICAL STUDY OF TIME, was published.

A native of Newark, NJ, Chet joined us in Sept. 1945 and graduated in Sept. 1947. He won the McCosh Prize and was active in debating, track, WhigClio, and Prospect. He went on to Cornell for an M.A., followed by a year in N.Y.C. advertising. However, academia kept calling, and lie went on to Yale for his Ph.D. and to teach there and at Connecticut College, before joining the philosophy department at the Univ. of Texas, in 1963, as professor and administrator. He was instrumental in establishing the Press as well as serving as dean of graduate studies.

In 1981 Chet moved on to the Univ. of Southern California as provost. Subsequently he served as dean and V.P. as well as professor of philosophy. Chet served on many national panels and committees, including the American Council of Learned Societies, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Assn. of American Universities. He authored four books and innumerable scholarly papers.

Chet was a U.S. Navy pilot during WWII and held a commercial pilot's license. In 1983 he and a colleague traveled to Russia to facilitate the travel of seven prominent Soviet scientist "refuseniks" coming to this country as visiting scholars.

The Class shares in the sorrow and loss of his sons Michael and Gordon and of his sister Rita Farkas.

The Class of 1948