ADAMS, E(lie) M(aynard) 1919-2003

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born December 29, 1919, in Clarkton, VA; died of complications from prostate cancer, November 17, 2003, in Chapel Hill, NC. Philosopher, educator, and author. Adams was a longtime professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. An alumnus of the University of Richmond, where he earned a B.A. in 1941 and an M.A. in 1944, he received a bachelor's in divinity from Colgate-Rochester Divinity School in 1944 and then went on to earn another master's from Harvard in 1947 and a Ph.D. in 1948. After a brief stint as an assistant professor at Ohio University, he joined the University of North Carolina faculty in 1948. Adams would spend the rest of his academic career there, becoming Kenan Professor of Philosophy in 1971, chairing the department from 1960 to 1965, and serving as faculty chair from 1976 to 1979. He was also director of the Curriculum in Peace, War, and Defense from 1970 to 1972 and was board of directors chair of the Program in the Humanities and Human Values before retiring as a professor emeritus in 1990. Even after his mandatory retirement, however, Adams continued to teach as the N. Ferebee Taylor Professor of Philosophy during the 1990s. A respected scholar of religion and philosophy, he was the author of such books as The Fundamentals of General Logic (1954), Philosophy and the Modern Mind: A Philosophical Critique of Modern Western Civilization (1975), The Accountability of Religion (1991), and A Society Fit for Human Beings (1997); he also edited Categorical Analysis: Selected Essays of Everett W. Hall on Philosophy, Value, Knowledge and Mind (1964). Adams also received numerous academic awards, including the 1971 Thomas Jefferson Award from his university.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Chronicle of Higher Education, November 17, 2003, p. A31.

ONLINE

Daily Tar Heel,http://www.dailytarheel.com/ (November 21, 2003), "Adams, 83, Leaves Profound Legacy."

General Alumni Association,http://alumni.unc.edu/ (November 21, 2003), "'Intellectual Giant' Maynard Adams Dies at 83."