Paul B. Woodruff ’65

The Class of 1965 lost a great soul with the death of Paul, our class salutatorian, who attended Oxford as a Marshall scholar before serving as an officer advising Vietnamese troops in combat. Paul returned to Princeton for his doctorate, with the experience of war that would inform his life as scholar, mentor, author, husband, parent, and friend.

Paul joined the philosophy department of the University of Texas, Austin, in 1973. He served UT as director of the Plan II Honors Program and then as the first dean of the School of Undergraduate Studies. He is remembered with reverent awe by generations of students.

Paul published as a philosopher, translator, and poet. His most recent book, Living Toward Virtue: Practical Ethics in the Spirit of Socrates, offers a path forward through persistent self-questioning. Paul’s translations of Sophocles and Euripides expressed a deep love of theater that began at Princeton, where he played the hero of Euripides’ Hippolytus in ancient Greek. 

Paul is survived by his wife of 50 years, Lucia; their daughters, Rachel and Kate; and five grandchildren. 

Through The Spring of Love: Poems for Jane, he responded to the tragic death of Kate’s daughter. His last published writings were astonishing op eds in The Washington Post on healing one’s soul, confronting death, and the blessing conferred by the physical presence of friends and family.