As a professor, Edward McClennen meant business.

It was his “blazingly intense” character, “unwavering commitment” to intellectual rigor and passion for his work that gained him respect from the undergraduate and graduate students he taught, said Samuel Gorovitz, a philosophy professor, who knew McClennen professionally for more than 25 years.

McClennen, a former philosophy and political science professor in the College of Arts and Sciences, died on Nov. 2. He retired from Syracuse University earlier this year after teaching at the university since 2003. Throughout his career, McClennen became recognized for his expertise in moral and political philosophy and in game theory, the study of strategic decision making in competitive situations.

He was also highly respected for his work in decision theory and political philosophy, Gorovitz said. Though McClennen devoted a lot of his time to the rigorous quality of his work, he also mentored many students at both undergraduate and graduate levels who “were also on to do good work,” Gorovitz said.

Before coming to SU, McClennen was a faculty member in the philosophy department at Washington University in St. Louis and then went to Bowling Green State University, Gorovitz said. He also spent part of his career at the London School of Economics, Gorovitz added.

While visiting its philosophy department, Gorovitz said he met McClennen for the first time in St. Louis. Years later, he said he also saw him while McClennen was a consultant in the philosophy department at Bowling Green.

McClennen lived in Albany, which Gorovitz said made it difficult for him to be a part of the community in a nonacademic sense. Gorovitz said McClennen was “very devoted” to his family, but was “conscientious” about his professional responsibilities.

“He wasn’t in this community in the way that I would meet members of his family,” Gorovitz said. “When I was in his office talking with him about academic matters, he would be eager to make clear his interest in his family in Albany.”

At times, McClennen’s commitment to his work and intellectual, driven nature made him capable of being “irascible and volatile,” Gorovitz said.

McClennen received several grants throughout his career, eventually helping draft a bill of rights for a new Libyan constitution. Gorovitz said McClennen was “really heartbroken” by the way events in Libya evolved because he had close connections with many progressive organizations in the country.

In 2011, a Libyan civil war broke out because of widespread discontent with the country’s leader at the time, Moammar Gadhafi, who ruled Libya for more than 40 years. Shortly after the revolts moved to the Libyan capital of Tripoli, rebel forces captured and killed Gadhafi, placing the country into democratic transition.

“When that all came apart, it was a personal disappointment for him because he thought he was in a position to do some real good in the world through these activities,” Gorovitz said.

He said McClennen’s frustration toward the events in Libya became more than just about the future of the country. Gorovitz added that though much of his research was theoretical and abstract, McClennen cared “very much” about his work’s practical applications and about making the world a better place.

Said Gorovitz: “It is always sad whenever the university loses someone of great intellectual strength who is committed first and foremost to intellectual quality.”

Published on November 17, 2013 at 11:55 pm

Contact Annie: apalme05@syr.edu