Dear Colleagues,
I share with you the sad news that Dr. William “Bill” Judson Wainwright, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, passed away on November 5, 2020.
Bill received his BA from Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, and his PhD from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. His early years of teaching were at Dartmouth College as well as at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. Bill joined the faculty in the Philosophy Department at UW-Milwaukee in 1968 and was named a Distinguished Professor in 1998. He taught at UWM for 35 years before retiring in 2003, and post-retirement, he was a recipient of the UWM Ernest Spaights Plaza Award in 2014.
Over the years, Bill published many articles as well as 13 books including Reason and the Heart, one of his most celebrated publications and Monotheism and the Hope in God, published in 2020. He had a great influence in the field of ethics and philosophy of religion with a keen interest in 17th and 18th century theology. He won three National Endowment for the Humanities fellowships and held (1995-2000) the editorship of Faith and Philosophy, a premier journal in philosophy of religion.
For additional information, please see Bill’s obituary online. Our condolences to Bill’s family and to the many others whose lives he touched.
Take care,
Johannes
Johannes Britz
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs