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Frank Bubb: In Memoriam

Frank Bubb: In Memoriam

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December 11, 2011

We’re deeply saddened to inform our friends of the death of Frank Bubb. Frank was a Founding Member of The Atlas Society, and, from 2003 to 2010,  a member of its Board of Trustees. On November 8th he lost his five-year battle with Young Onset Alzheimer's Disease.  

Frank was a corporate attorney, chiefly with the Scott Paper Company in Philadelphia, where he rose to become Staff VP and Chief Financial Counsel. In the mid-1990s, he survived a radical restructuring by CEO "Chainsaw" Al Dunlop, and moved with the company to Boca Raton. From 1996 to his retirement in 2003, he was Senior VP and General Counsel for The Sports Authority retail chain, where he was responsible for its legal affairs. He was an expert in securities law, corporate governance, and employee compensation and benefits, among other areas.

From his college days Frank was an activist for liberty. As an undergraduate at Washington University, he founded an Objectivist discussion group and wrote a weekly column for the campus newspaper, a practice he continued at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he also taught courses on Objectivism. Despite the pressures of his legal work, he found time to write scores of op-ed articles for newspapers nationwide.

Frank was truly a man of the mind. He was a friend, advisor, and comrade for over a quarter century.

Frank was actively involved in the life of our organization from the very beginning, as a donor, advisor, speaker, and writer as well as trustee. He had a special interest in our research and student programs. After I launched what was then the Institute for Objectivist Studies in early 1990, I wanted to hold a weeklong seminar for students that summer, but we lacked the funds.

Frank asked what we needed; his check allowed us to hold the first Summer Seminar. He was instrumental in our Objectivist Studies monograph series, providing seed money and advice on topics and authors. He wrote several great articles for our former publication Navigator, including a cautionary article about certain plans for privatizing Social Security, based on his intimate knowledge of pension and investment law. (See below for examples.)

"Frank and I served together on the Atlas Society Board for many years," says Jay Lapeyre, board chair. "Frank often stood alone in pushing an issue or a perspective, and I learned to appreciate both the wisdom of his insights and his intense commitment to understand and integrate the ideas.  He sought truth in every discussion, and he was quick to volunteer his time and financial support when he believed he could make a difference. Frank brought a special passion for ideas and research, and he strongly advocated for expanded student programs."

Frank was truly a man of the mind. He was a friend, advisor, and comrade for over a quarter century.  We have lost another great one. The staff and board of The Atlas Society extend our sincerest condolences to Frank's wife, Diana, and their sons, Daniel and David.

A Memorial Celebration of his life will take place at the Springhaven Club, Wallingford, PA, on January 5, 2013, at 11:30 AM.

Articles by Frank Bubb:

How Price Gouging Laws Make Hurricanes Worse

The Hidden Danger Of Social Security Privatization And How To Avoid It

Objectivist Studies monographs:

Rationality and the Psychology of Abstraction by Kenneth Livingston

Evidence and Justification by David Kelley

Reason and Value: Aristotle versus Rand by Roderick T. Long et al.

Is Virtue Only a Means to Happiness? by Neera K. Badhwar et al.

A Theory of Abstraction by David Kelley

David Kelley

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

David Kelley

David Kelley is the founder of The Atlas Society. A professional philosopher, teacher, and best-selling author, he has been a leading proponent of Objectivism for more than 25 years.

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David Kelley Ph.D
About the author:
David Kelley Ph.D

David Kelley founded The Atlas Society (TAS) in 1990 and served as Executive Director through 2016. In addition, as Chief Intellectual Officer, he was responsible for overseeing the content produced by the organization: articles, videos, talks at conferences, etc.. Retired from TAS in 2018, he remains active in TAS projects and continues to serve on the Board of Trustees.

Kelley is a professional philosopher, teacher, and writer. After earning a Ph.D. in philosophy from Princeton University in 1975, he joined the philosophy department of Vassar College, where he taught a wide variety of courses at all levels. He has also taught philosophy at Brandeis University and lectured frequently on other campuses.

Kelley's philosophical writings include original works in ethics, epistemology, and politics, many of them developing Objectivist ideas in new depth and new directions. He is the author of The Evidence of the Senses, a treatise in epistemology; Truth and Toleration in Objectivism, on issues in the Objectivist movement; Unrugged Individualism: The Selfish Basis of Benevolence; and The Art of Reasoning, a widely used textbook for introductory logic, now in its 5th edition.

Kelley has lectured and published on a wide range of political and cultural topics. His articles on social issues and public policy have appeared in Harpers, The Sciences, Reason, Harvard Business Review, The Freeman, On Principle, and elsewhere. During the 1980s, he wrote frequently for Barrons Financial and Business Magazine on such issues as egalitarianism, immigration, minimum wage laws, and Social Security.

His book A Life of One’s Own: Individual Rights and the Welfare State is a critique of the moral premises of the welfare state and defense of private alternatives that preserve individual autonomy, responsibility, and dignity. His appearance on John Stossel’s ABC/TV special "Greed" in 1998 stirred a national debate on the ethics of capitalism.

An internationally-recognized expert on Objectivism, he has lectured widely on Ayn Rand, her ideas, and her works. He was a consultant to the film adaptation of Atlas Shrugged, and editor of Atlas Shrugged: The Novel, the Films, the Philosophy.

 

Major Work (selected):

Concepts and Natures: A Commentary on The Realist Turn (by Douglas B. Rasmussen and Douglas J. Den Uyl),” Reason Papers 42, no. 1, (Summer 2021); This review of a recent book includes a deep dive into the ontology and epistemology of concepts.

The Foundations of Knowledge. Six lectures on the Objectivist epistemology.

The Primacy of Existence” and “The Epistemology of Perception,” The Jefferson School, San Diego, July 1985

Universals and Induction,” two lectures at GKRH conferences, Dallas and Ann Arbor, March 1989

Skepticism,” York University, Toronto, 1987

The Nature of Free Will,” two lectures at The Portland Institute, October 1986

The Party of Modernity,” Cato Policy Report, May/June 2003;and Navigator, Nov 2003; A widely cited article on the cultural divisions among pre-modern, modern (Enlightenment) and postmodern views.

"I Don't Have To" (IOS Journal, Volume 6, Number 1, April 1996) and “I Can and I Will” (The New Individualist, Fall/Winter 2011); Companion pieces on making real the control we have over our lives as individuals.

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