[Buddha-l] Emeritus Professor of Philosophy Paul Schmidt Dies

[Richard Hayes]

On Tue, 2008-02-12 at 18:56 -0500, Bernie Simon wrote:

> I don't know this gentleman, but I figure some on this list will.
> 
> Paul F. Schmidt, emeritus professor of philosophy at the University of  
> New Mexico and department chair from 1965 until 1976, died in  
> Albuquerque on February 1.

Yes, indeed, some of us on this list did known Paul and were shocked and
deeply saddened to hear of his death. The article that Bernie sent said
that the cause of death was pneumonia. Technically, that is true. The
fuller story is that Paul tripped over a dog and hit his head on the
floor back in November. The fall eventually led to a blood clot just
inside the skull, which put pressure on the brain. In January surgery
was performed to relieve the pressure. The surgery was successful but
resulted in an infection elsewhere in his body. Treatment of that
infection led to his being bed-ridden for several days, during which
time he developed pneumonia. He died at sunset on Friday, February 1.

Until the time of his accident, Paul was an avid hiker and nature lover
and an omnivorous reader. He started every day with meditation but had
little use for organized religion of any kind. He rarely missed a public
lecture on philosophy and was often seen around the philosophy
department, always accompanied by his wife, Gail Baker, also an avid
hiker and nature lover and reader and traveller. She has started coming
to public lectures again and asking challenging questions, as always.
The spirit lives on.

-- 
Richard Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico