Alumni News | Philosophy Mourns Loss of Dr. Frank B. Dilley

Dr. Frank B. Dilley, long-time chair of the Philosophy Department at University of Delaware, passed away on April 13, 2018.

He earned a bachelor’s and master’s in Philosophy from the College of Arts & Sciences at Ohio University.

Dilley wrote his own obituary:

Dr. Frank B. Dilley

Frank would like to be remembered for his good points. 1: his efforts to reform the teaching of philosophy to make it more attractive to women and minority Americans; 2: his teaching directed to making philosophy a part of the lives of students who are not intended to be professional philosophers; and 3. helping to create distance learning opportunities for doctoral degrees for already employed older students (for which he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Walden University). He asks forgiveness from all he offended, including those he intended to offend.

He worked hard, too hard, to do those things while still helping his beloved wife Jane to raise a family of three – Brian (called Maxx), Carol, and Kathryn (called KK), who developed in quite different directions, all of whose accomplishments he admired. He leaves all of them behind along with six grandchildren.

Born in 1931, Frank grew up with two brothers and a sister (all now deceased) in an academic environment where his father Frank B. Dilley, was Director of Admissions at Ohio University in Athens Ohio, and his mother, Geneva Steiner Dilley, was very active in community and University affairs. He earned B.A. and M.A. degrees at Ohio University, a Master of Divinity at Union Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. from Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University. He won many awards which seemed important at the time but seemed to him finally to be not worth listing.

Frank taught at Sarah Lawrence, Smith College, and Milliken University, and came to the University of Delaware as Chair of the Philosophy Department in 1967. During that time, he left the chairship for four years to serve as Associate Provost. at the University of Delaware. He published two books, about forty articles, and miscellaneous reviews and minor pieces.

Read more of Dilley’s obituary.