Spring 1998, Vol. XXVII, No. 1

Department of Philosophy - University of Iceland, IS-101 Reykjavík, Iceland

 

Linda Weiner Morris died on March 18, 1998 after a battle with lung cancer. She was a remarkable and talented person whose many skills and gifts were reflected in her varied pursuits. A journalism major at the University of Iowa, Linda was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and edited the the Daily Iowan. She received a M.A. in journalism from the University of Minnesota. From 1981 to 1987 she was Vice Provost of Student Affairs at the University of Cincinnati. During this time she co-authored one of the first books on sexual harassment in academia, The Lecherous Professor. For the past decade her energies went into epr (Educational Publishing Resources), a desktop publishing enterprise that she co-founded. Her work included grant writing, and Linda was very proud of the five million dollar grant she secured from National Science Foundation for M2SE (Minorities in Mathematics, Science, and Engineering).

Linda freely offered her talents to the Hume Society. Most notable was her unstinting and generous work for Hume Studies from the time the Hume Society became its publisher in 1993. First, she completely redesigned the journal all the way from the cover to the typeface. Her eye for professional appearance is reflected in the journal cover with its use of Hume’s bookplate motif. In addition, she worked up the layout for each issue of Hume Studies.

Linda’s gifts as a designer, however, only received their fullest expression in the posters and tee-shirts she made for various Hume conferences. Linda designed the official tee-shirt for the 1990 NEH Summer Institute on Hume and the Enlightenment using the Ramsay portrait of Hume. Her design for the somewhat less official tee-shirt for the "Hummer Summer" depicts Donald Hume, David’s brother, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Bart Simpson. She also designed the cover and worked up the layout for the satirical journal Humania, which unfortunately seems to have fallen still-born from the press. In the poster for the 1991 Taft Colloquium, "Hume in Cincinnati", Linda has Hume wearing a Cincinnati Reds cap and holding their pennant. Her poster for the 1995 conference in Utah has Hume wearing green Ray Bans, as he sits on a mountain overlooking the Mormon Temple.

Linda was a regular at Hume conferences. Whether we were in Rome or Oregon, she would scout out good places to eat, interesting sights to see, and places to shop. She offered comfort to some, practical advice to others, and conviviality to all. Her conversation, as Hume says, was "very satisfactory; as a chearful good-humour'd companion diffuses a joy over the whole company, from a sympathy with her gaiety. These qualities being agreeable, beget love and esteem." Linda’s warmth and love of life were equally contagious and begot love and esteem from all who knew her.

 

Charlotte Brown and Don Garrett