Former Stanford Dean Philip Rhinelander Dies

Philip Rhinelander, former head of general education at Harvard University and a former Stanford University dean, died of cancer Friday at his campus home. He was 79.

Rhinelander, a philosopher and the Olive H. Palmer professor of humanities emeritus at Stanford, came from Harvard to Stanford as dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences in 1956. He held that post for five years.

He was known to thousands of students at Harvard and Stanford for his course on problems of good and evil. One of his Stanford students, James Stockdale, was a prisoner of war in Vietnam and credited Rhinelander’s course with helping him survive the ordeal.

“The central problem in prison was to build a civilization in which life made sense, and that was the central problem in his course,” Stockdale said Friday.

Rhinelander, who was born in Cambridge, Mass., earned a bachelor’s degree in classics and philosophy and a doctorate in philosophy, both from Harvard. He also studied at Harvard Law School. He taught at Harvard and eventually became the chairman of the committee on general education and director of general education.

Rhinelander is survived by his wife, Virginia, two brothers, a son, three daughters and 13 grandchildren.