Harry Prosch
Harry Prosch, professor emeritus of philosophy, died Friday, March 11, at the Wesley Health Care Center.
Born May 4, 1917, in Logansport, Ind., he was the son of Harry J. Prosch and Clara Rehwald Prosch. After graduating from high school, he worked as post office clerk until he entered the Army in 1942, serving as a supply sergeant in the Pacific Theater. In 1948, he married Doris Becker of Logansport. She survives him.
Harry earned an A.B. degree with honors, as well as A.M., and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Chicago. His master鈥檚 thesis was titled 鈥淢ethodological Pre-Requisites for a Practical Social Science,鈥� and his doctoral dissertation, 鈥淭he Current Impasse in Ethics.鈥� He taught at Idaho State College, Shimer College, and Southern Methodist University before joining the Skidmore faculty in 1962. He chaired the Department of Philosophy for 15 years and was a full professor from 1977 until his retirement in 1987.
He served on a number of college committees and was elected a founding member of the Skidmore chapter of Phi Beta Kappa in 1971. That same year, he was selected to deliver the Faculty Research Lecture, titled 鈥淐ooling the Modern Mind: Polanyi鈥檚 Mission.鈥� In his introduction to the talk, then-President Joseph Palamountain said that as a teacher and administrator, in less than a decade, Harry 鈥渉as developed and shaped Skidmore鈥檚 Philosophy Department from rudimentary beginnings into one of the strongest areas of the liberal arts curriculum鈥�. He is to the entire community very much the ideal of scholar, of instructor, and of educational planner.鈥�
Eric Weller, professor emeritus of philosophy and former dean of the faculty, recalled Harry鈥檚 approach to teaching Plato鈥檚 Dialogues. 鈥淒uring the Symposium (one of the dialogues), all of the main characters sit around drinking, talking about love. The students taking the course鈥攁ll seniors and of legal age鈥攚ere invited to Harry鈥檚 house for a true, Greek-style symposium, where Harry would serve retsina鈥攁 foul-tasting wine. This was Harry鈥檚 way of saying, 鈥榙on鈥檛 drink too much of this stuff.鈥� The students loved the experience.鈥�
Harry developed good relationships with his students, added Weller. 鈥淗e was a curmudgeon who spoke his mind but a softie underneath that exterior. He would bend over backwards for his students, and the brighter they were, the farther he鈥檇 bend.鈥�
Another longtime colleague, Warren Hockenos, associate professor emeritus of philosophy, remembered the retsina symposium. 鈥淗arry used it to show them that a wine connoisseur would know the qualities that made it a good retsina and worth drinking. That is the role of the philosopher鈥攌nowing what qualities make something good.鈥�
Hockenos continued, 鈥淧lato鈥檚 philosophy is important because it tells you what you have to know to conduct your life properly as a good person. The role of the teacher of philosophy is to bring students to this philosophical thought that Plato developed. And students saw that Harry took them and philosophy seriously. He had respect for his students, and respect for what a philosopher does and thinks, and he had the ability to bring the two together and show how one depends on the other.鈥�
Harry鈥檚 research specialty was the philosopher Michael Polanyi, with whom he studied at Oxford in 1968-69. As Willett Visiting Professor at the University of Chicago in 1970, Harry taught a course on Polanyi with the philosopher himself.
Harry wrote three books: The Genesis of Twentieth Century Philosophy in 1964, Meaning (co-written with Michael Polanyi) in 1975, and Michael Polanyi: A Critical Exposition in 1986.
Survivors in addition to his wife include a son, Michael, who graduated from Skidmore in 1982; a daughter, Christine, and her husband, Douglas Murray, of Alexandria, Va.; and two grandchildren and a great-grandchild.
The family has suggested that memorial contributions be made to the Luzerne Music Center, P.O. Box 35, Lake Luzerne, NY, 12846.