Popkin, Richard H(enry) 1923–2005

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born December 27, 1923, in New York, NY; died of complications of emphysema April 14, 2005, in Santa Monica, CA. Philosopher, educator, and author. Popkin was a noted authority on the history of skepticism in philosophy, as well as on the interaction between Jewish and Christian beliefs through the ages. He completed both his undergraduate and graduate work at Columbia University, where he finished his Ph.D. in 1950. At the time, he was already on the faculty of the State University of Iowa, later becoming an associate professor in 1958. During the early 1960s he taught at Harvey Mudd College, and from 1963 to 1973 he was a professor of philosophy at the University of California at San Diego. He served as founding chair of the philosophy department while at San Diego. Other accomplishments during the 1960s included cofounding the International Archives of the History of Ideas in 1962, and in 1964 founding the Journal of the History of Philosophy. The last twenty-five years of his academic career were spent at Washington University, where he retired as professor emeritus in 1998. As a scholar and author, one of Popkin's most important contributions was his The History of Scepticism from Erasmus to Descartes (1960), which he revised several times over the years, most recently as The History of Scepticism: From Savonarola to Bayle (2003). Popkin's interest in the history of Christian and Jewish theology and philosophy also led to research in millenarianism: the belief that the world will end in the year 1000 or 2000. He edited a book on the subject titled Millenarianism and Messianism in English Literature and Thought, 1650–1800: Clark Library Lectures, 1981–1982 (1988) and also wrote about recent cults influenced by millenarianism, such as the Branch Davidians. Popkin's work was brought to the attention of general readers in 1966, when he published The Second Oswald: The Case for a Conspiracy Theory (revised edition, 1967), in which he speculated that Lee Harvey Oswald was not a lone gunman in the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Though he suffered from poor eyesight later in life, Popkin continued to write actively after retirement. Among his other works are The High Road to Pyrrhonism (1980), The Third Force in Seventeenth-Century Thought (1992), and Skeptical Philosophy for Everyone (2002). He also edited numerous titles, such as The Columbia History of Western Philosophy (1999). At the time of his death, he was writing a book about Rabbi Isaac of Troki, who lived during the sixteenth century.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Los Angeles Times, April 18, 2005, p. B11.

New York Times, April 19, 2005, p. C17.