William Theodore de Bary (; August 9, 1919 – July 14, 2017) was an American

Sinologist Sinology, or Chinese studies, is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of China primarily through Chinese philosophy, language, literature, culture and history and often refers to Western scholarship. Its origin "may be traced to the ex ...

and scholar of East Asian philosophy who was a professor and administrator at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

for nearly 70 years. De Bary graduated from Columbia College in 1941, where he was a student in the first year of Columbia's famed Literature Humanities course. He then briefly took up graduate studies at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

before leaving to serve in American military intelligence in the Pacific Theatre of

World War Two World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Upon his return, he resumed his studies at Columbia, where he completed his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in 1953. In order to create text books for the non-Western version of the Columbia humanities course, he drew together teams of scholars to translate original source material, ''Sources of Chinese Tradition'' (1960), ''Sources of Japanese Tradition'', and ''Sources of Indian Tradition''. His extensive publications made the case for the universality of Asian values and a tradition of democratic values in Confucianism. He is recognized as training the graduate students and mentoring the scholars who created the field of

Neo-Confucian Neo-Confucianism (, often shortened to ''lǐxué'' 理學, literally "School of Principle") is a moral, ethical, and metaphysical Chinese philosophy influenced by Confucianism, and originated with Han Yu (768–824) and Li Ao (772–841) in t ...

studies.

Life and career

William Theodore "Ted" de Bary was born on August 9, 1919, in

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, New York, and grew up in

Leonia, New Jersey Leonia is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 8,937,Anton de Bary Heinrich Anton de Bary (26 January 183119 January 1888) was a German surgeon, botanist, microbiologist, and mycologist (fungal systematics and physiology). He is considered a founding father of plant pathology (phytopathology) as well as the fou ...

, and his father William de Bary (1882–1963) immigrated to the U.S. from Germany in 1914. His parents divorced when he was a small child, and his mother raised him as a single mother. He formally changed his first name to "Wm." to distinguish himself from his father. He entered

as an undergraduate student in 1937, and began studying

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

the following year as a sophomore. After graduating in 1941, de Bary began graduate study in Chinese at

, but the following year he was recruited by the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

to undergo intensive training in

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

and serve as an intelligence officer in the Pacific Theatre of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. In 1947, de Bary left the military and returned to Columbia for graduate study in Chinese. He received an

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in 1948 followed by a

in 1953 with a dissertation entitled "A Plan for the Prince: the ''Ming-i tai-fang lu'' of Huang Tsung-hsi", and became a professor immediately afterward. De Bary was active in faculty intervention during the

Columbia University protests of 1968 In 1968, a series of protests at Columbia University in New York City were one among the various student demonstrations that occurred around the globe in that year. The Columbia protests erupted over the spring of that year after students disc ...

and served as the university's provost from 1971 to 1978. He has attempted to reshape the

Core Curriculum In education, a curriculum (; : curricula or curriculums) is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view ...

of Columbia College to include

Great Books A classic is a book accepted as being exemplary or particularly noteworthy. What makes a book "classic" is a concern that has occurred to various authors ranging from Italo Calvino to Mark Twain and the related questions of "Why Read the Cl ...

and classes devoted to non-Western civilizations. De Bary was additionally famous for rarely missing a

Columbia Lions The Columbia University Lions are the collective athletic teams and their members from Columbia University, an Ivy League institution in New York City, United States. The current director of athletics is Peter Pilling. Ivy League athletics Th ...

football game since he began teaching at the university in 1953. A recognized educator, he won Columbia's Great Teacher Award in 1969, its Lionel Trilling Book Award in 1983 and its

Mark Van Doren Mark Van Doren (June 13, 1894 – December 10, 1972) was an American poet, writer and critic. He was a scholar and a professor of English at Columbia University for nearly 40 years, where he inspired a generation of influential writers and thin ...

Award for Great Teaching in 1987. In 2010 he received the Philolexian Award for Distinguished Literary Achievement. De Bary served as the director of the Heyman Center for the Humanities and continued teaching until several months before his death in 2017 at age 97.

Prizes and honours

* Watumull Prize of the American Historical Association in 1958 * Fishburn Prize of Educational Press Association in 1964 * Elected to the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

, 1974 * Edwin O. Reischauer Lectures 1986 * Elected to the American Philosophical Association, 1999 * Elevated to the

Order of the Rising Sun The is a Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge features rays of sunlight ...

(Third Class), * Philolexian Award for Distinguished Literary Achievement, 2010 * National Humanities Medal, 2013 *

Tang Prize The Tang Prize () is a set of biannual international awards bestowed in four fields: Sustainable Development, Biopharmaceutical Science, Sinology, and Rule of Law. Nomination and selection are conducted by an independent selection committee, whic ...

in Sinology, 2016

Honorary degrees

* St. Lawrence University, D.Litt., 1968 *

Loyola University of Chicago Loyola University Chicago (Loyola or LUC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1870 by the Society of Jesus, Loyola is one of the largest Catholic universities in the United States. Its namesake is Saint Ign ...

, LHD, 1970 *

. D.Litt., 1994

Major works

Original works

* ''The Great Civilized Conversation: Education for a World Community'' (CUP, 2013) * ''Self and Society in Ming Thought'' (ACLS Humanities E-Book, 2011) * ''Living Legacies at Columbia'' (CUP, 2006) * ''Nobility and Civility: Asian Ideals of Leadership and the Common Good'', (

Harvard UP Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retirem ...

, 2004) * ''Asian Values and Human Rights: A Confucian Communitarian Perspective''. Harvard UP (2000) * ''Learning for One's Self: Essays on the Individual in Neo-Confucian Thought'' (CUP, 1991) * ''The Trouble with Confucianism'', (Harvard UP, 1991) * ''Eastern canons: Approaches to the Asian Classics'' (CUP, 1990) * ''Message of the mind in Neo-Confucianism'' (CUP, 1989) * ''Neo-Confucian Education: the Formative Stage'' (University of California Press, 1989) * ''East Asian Civilizations: a Dialogue in Five Stages'', (Harvard UP, 1988) * ''The Rise of Neo-Confucianism in Korea'' (1985) * ''The Liberal Tradition in China '' (Chinese University of Hong Kong Press, 1983) * ''Yüan thought: Chinese Thought and Religion under the Mongols'' (CUP, 1982) * ''Neo-Confucian Orthodoxy and the Learning of the Mind-And-Heart'' (CUP, 1981) * ''Principle and Practicality: Essays in Neo-Confucianism and Practical Learning'' (CUP, 1979) * ''Unfolding of Neo-Confucianism'' (CUP, 1975) * ''Self and Society in Ming Thought'' (CUP, 1970) * ''The Buddhist Tradition in India, China and Japan'' (Random House, 1969) * ''Approaches to Asian Civilizations'' (CUP, 1964) * ''Guide to Oriental Classics'' (CUP, 1964) end ed. 1975. 3rd ed. 1988

Original translations

* ''Waiting for the Dawn: a Plan for the Prince'' (1993) * ''Five Women who Loved Love'' (Tuttle, 1956)

Edited volumes

* ''Finding Wisdom in East Asian Classics'' (CUP, 2011) * ''Sources of East Asian Tradition''. 2 vols [vol. 1 published subtitled ''Premodern Asia''; vol 2 subtitled ''The modern Period'' (CUP, 2008) * ''Sources of Korean Tradition: Volume 1'' (Harvard UP, 1997) 2nd ed. 2001 * ''Confucianism and Human Rights'' (CUP, 1998) with Tu Weiming * ''Sources of Japanese Tradition'' (1958), with Ryūsaku Tsunoda and Donald Keene 2nd ed published as ''earliest times to 1600'' (2001) with Donald Keene, George Tanabe, Paul Varley vol 2 published as ''1600 to 2000'' with Carol Gluck and Arthur Tiedemann (2005) * ''Sources of Chinese Tradition: Volume 1'' (CUP, 1960) expanded 2 vols ed. Columbia UP, 1999 and 2000 * ''Approaches to the Oriental Classics: Asian Literature and Thought in General Education'' (1958/9) * ''Sources of Indian Tradition'', 2 vols (1957 and 1964), with Stephen N. Hay and I. H. Qureshi 2nd ed. 1988

Notes

References and further reading

*
In Memoriam: Wm. Theodore de Bary (1919-2017)
* De Bary, Wm. Theodore, interviewed by Gordon J. Slovut.
Reminiscences of William Theodore De Bary
" Columbia Crisis of 1968 Project. 1968. Columbia University Library.

External links

Oral history interview transcript with William De Bary on 27 May 1997, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives

William De Bary Obituary – The Journal News
{{DEFAULTSORT:De Bary, William Theodore 1919 births 2017 deaths Writers from the Bronx Military personnel from New York City Columbia College (New York) alumni Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Columbia University faculty Harvard University alumni New Confucian philosophers Presidents of the Association for Asian Studies National Humanities Medal recipients Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun, 3rd class American sinologists People from Leonia, New Jersey American people of German descent Members of the American Philosophical Society