Bulletin of the Santayana Society, No. 29 Fall 2011

              Angus Kerr-Lawson: 1932-2011
Angus Carmichael Kerr-Lawson, founder and editor of Overheard in Seville, died
on June 20, 2011, from multiple myeloma. He is survived by his wife Margaret,
daughters Leslie (and her husband, Steven Brooks) and Kate (and her husband,
Stephen Bate), sister Jessie, grandchildren Andrea and Matt Brooks, Jamie and
Charlotte Bate, sister-in-law Barbara (and her husband, Ralph Hall), and children,
Doug, David, and Heather. Along with the family he loved, he also leaves behind
many friends, former students, and professional colleagues. All mourn the loss of a
dedicated professor of mathematics, first-rate scholar, and one ofthe few masters of
the philosophy of George Santayana.
Angus was born in the rural mining community of Swastika, Ontario, Canada,
in 1932. His parents were both geologists — his mother was the first woman to
receive a master's degree in geology from the University of Toronto. Angus left
his hometown in 1954 to attend the University of Toronto, where he studied
mathematics. In 1955 he went to the University of Chicago, where he earned a
Master's in mathematics. In 1956 he was awarded a substantial scholarship to study
at the Sorbonne. It was while in Paris that he first read Santayana and thereupon
developed a life-long passion for philosophy. Disillusioned with his program of
study at the Sorbonne and increasingly intrigued by philosophy, he left Paris and
began attending philosophy classes at the London School of Economics. However,
he was not sympathetic to the philosophy of logical positivism that was in vogue
there at the time, and he eventually left England to join the newly founded University
of Waterloo in 1958 as an instructor of mathematics. While teaching at Waterloo
he earned his doctorate from McMaster University in 1963. Although his initial
appointment was with the Department of Pure Mathematics, a position that twice
took him to Kyoto, Japan, for teaching assignments (he was pleased to conduct his
final lecture in Japanese), the passion he felt for philosophy only grew stronger over
time. In 1976 he went to Oxford University for the fall term on sabbatical. It was
while at Oxford that he read Timothy Sprigge's book Santayana: An Examination of
his Philosophy. Greatly impressed by the book, he called Sprigge on the telephone
and the two became lifelong friends. Upon return to Canada, Angus began attending
philosophy colloquia at Waterloo and also began attending professional philosophy
conferences. In the late 1970s, he helped found the George Santayana Society and
in 1983 he started and co-edited Overheard in Seville, becoming the sole editor in
1988. In the early eighties, he joined the Department of Philosophy, where he held
a cross-appointment until his retirement in 1996. Angus's retirement was nominal
only; like Santayana, he continued to read and write philosophy until just a few
weeks before his death.
Angus's proficiencies as teacher, scholar, and editor are well recognized. Over
the years I've encountered several of his former students (I luckily count myself
amongst them) and all have shared reports of his many virtues: focused intelligence,
sympathy, kindness, patience — all complemented by a delightfully wry sense of
humor. His contributions to both teaching and philosophy were recently celebrated
when he was given the Distinguished Professor Emeritus Award at the 2011 spring
convocation at the University of Waterloo; and in 2008 when the Society for the