Eric Michael Stiffler – 50th Reunion Essay

Eric Michael Stiffler

Date of Death: 24-Aug-2014

College: Branford

(A longer version of this obituary appeared in McDonough Voice and was reprinted on the Class Website.)

Dr. Eric M. Stiffler, 67, of Macomb passed away August 24, 2014, at his residence. He was born on January 20, 1947, in Philadelphia, to Harold and Beth Mackey Stiffler. He married Janice Owens on July 23, 1993 in Galena; she survives. Also surviving are his parents, Harold and Dr. Beth Stiffler of Macomb; daughter Jessica (Billy) Dicken of Bloomington; sons Nathan Stiffler of California, Aaron Campbell of Brooklyn and Raphael Campbell of Chicago; grandchildren Ashlyn Dicken, Ian Campbell and Raquel Campbell; brothers Randall Stiffler of Massachusetts and David (Karen) Stiffler of Massachusetts.

Eric lived in Macomb most of his life. In 1963, he went to Phillips Exeter Academy in Andover, N.H. He got his bachelor’s from Yale University and his Masters and PhD at the University of Chicago. He was hired at Western Illinois University as a faculty member from 1977 to 1989, and was director of the Honors Program from 1987 to 1989, assistant provost from 1989 to 1991, associate provost from 1991 to 2001 and acting provost from 2001 to 2003. He returned to the faculty from 2003 to 2005 before his retirement on June 1, 2005.

He published many papers. He was devoted to his family and a fan of photography, woodworking and the outdoors. Eric was a member of Phi Kappa Phi Honors Society, serving as president, 1989 to 1990. He was inducted as a faculty member in 1982 to Mortar Board, selected as faculty advisor in 1990, and recipient of the WIU Presidential Merit Award 1981 to 1983. He was also vice president and program chair 1984 to 1986 and secretary-treasurer 1979 to 1981 at the Illinois Philosophical Association.

From Eric Rennie: I met Eric my senior year at Exeter and we roomed together my first two years at Yale, then we kind of went our separate ways, although we remained friendly. He got very involved with the Yale Daily News. He was a philosophy major, and after a while I was unable to understand much of what he said on the subject. I remember asking him about truth at one point, and he replied rather dismissively that it had been disproved. He went on to get a Ph.D. in philosophy at the University of Chicago. I remember being a bit surprised when he returned to his home town to teach at Western Illinois, winding up as provost there. (He never struck me as a home town boy.) I attended his wedding to his first wife Cynthia around 1970 or 1971. I knew his parents and his two younger brothers, one of whom attended Yale Divinity School. I was saddened when I heard of his death a few years ago (two of my three Yale roommates are now gone). Eric and I had been good friends when we were young, and we had stayed in touch, more or less, ever since.