Grene, Marjorie Glicksman

Professor Marjorie Glicksman Grene, 98, of Blacksburg, Va., died on Monday, March 16, 2009.

Dr. Grene joined the Virginia Tech faculty as Honorary University Distinguished Professor in 1988, by which time she had already distinguished herself as a leading scholar of the history of philosophy and helped to found the subfield of the philosophy of biology. She studied early on with such figures as Heidegger, Jaspers and Whitehead, went on to teach at the University of Chicago, and continued scholarly work unabated even while running a farm for several years as she raised a family, both in the United States and Ireland. In 2002, Dr. Grene became the first woman ever to be honored with a volume in the prestigious Library of Living Philosophers series, joining the ranks of Einstein, Russell, and Sartre, among others. Her last book was published when she was 93 years old, at which time she had published 13 books, several translations, and over 100 articles.

She is survived by her daughter, Ruth, a professor of plant physiology at Virginia Tech; her son, Nicholas, the Professor of English Literature at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, his wife, Eleanor; six grandchildren, Sophia, Hannah, Jessica, Clement, Nick and Lucy Grene; and one greatgranddaughter, Nazyia Terry.

A memorial service is being arranged for May 3, 2009, at Virginia Tech. Further information may be found at http://www.phil.vt.edu/www.phil.vt.edu. Arrangements by McCoy Funeral Home, Blacksburg, Va.