Alan Pasch, Philosophy Professor Dies At 85

Washington Post reporter Matt Schudel writes of retired Philosophy professor's death.

 Washington Post reporter Matt Schudel writes of retired Philosophy professor's death.   

By Matt Schudel, Washington Post 

Alan Pasch, 85, a retired philosophy professor at the University of Maryland whose courses ranged from logic to human sexuality, died June 9 of heart disease. His family said he was found in his car in a parking lot at Laurel Regional Hospital.

Dr. Pasch worked at U-Md. from 1960 to 1997 and taught courses in logic, epistemology and metaphysics. Later in his career, he taught a popular undergraduate course on the philosophy of sexuality, incorporating classic texts.
 He also taught a series of composition courses aimed at improving his students’ writing and analytical skills.
 “The students seemed to like it, and it seemed to help their writing,” he told The Washington Post in 1980. “When I started the course, I found I had forgotten most of my high school grammar, but it all came back to me. I believe a faculty member who is himself adept in the use of language is in a position to teach writing regardless of where he is on campus.”
 Dr. Pasch was executive secretary of the American Philosophical Association from 1969 to 1972. He also founded the Faculty Voice, a newspaper written by and for the U-Md. faculty. He chaired the editorial board from its founding in 1986 until 1991.
 Alan Pasch, a Silver Spring resident, was born in Cleveland and served with the Army in the Pacific during World War II.
 He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1949. He received a master’s degree in philosophy from New York’s New School for Social Research in 1952 and a doctorate in philosophy from Princeton University in 1955.
 His wife of 56 years, Eleanor Berna Pasch, died in 2006. Survivors include a daughter, Rachel Pasch Grossman of River Forest, Ill.; a brother; a sister; and two grandchildren.