Lance P. Hickey ’91 died on May 3, 2011, in Fairfield, Connecticut.

(The following was provided by the Shelter Island Reporter on June 9, 2011)

Lance P. Hickey, 41, a brilliant philosopher, an inspirational professor, a beloved friend and an irreplaceable son, brother, and uncle, passed away on May 3, 2011. Lance was born in New York City on December 13, 1969, and lived passionately from the beginning. He was eternally youthful and ebullient, usually with a winsome smile, full of life and always eager to engage a friend or new acquaintance in conversation about running, politics or sports. His loves were running, the philosophy of the mind, teaching his students, and of course the Yankees and the Rangers. He graduated from the Salisbury School before receiving his B.A. from Bowdoin College Summa cum laude and his doctorate in philosophy from Columbia University. He taught at Yale, Sacred Heart University, Southern Connecticut State University, St. Louis University, University of Toledo, Rutgers, the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, University of Bridgeport, Suffolk County Community College, and elsewhere. His published book, “Hilary Putnam,” focused on Putnam’s contributions to various fields of philosophy and is in its second printing. Endowed with a great sense of mission, what kept Lance up at night was the fear that he wasn’t doing enough for the world, enough for his students, enough for philosophy. For Lance, teaching was all. He had a talent for communicating ideas and inspired his students and friends to think more deeply about life and as a result become better people. He could explain anything to anyone without sounding patronizing. Lance was a man of peace; he loved intellectual debate, but never fought. Material possessions meant little to him. You could pack all of Lance’s clothes into two suitcases. But he dearly loved books. As a close family friend said, when Lance had two nickels to rub together, he would spend them on another book, not on food or clothes or what other people thought of as daily essentials. To Lance, learning was the essential. At the time of his death, Lance was senior editor and writer for the non-profit, Pursuit-of-Happiness.org, and was at work on a book about happiness, “Happiness: The Remarkable Link between Science & Philosophy.” Lance is survived by his mother, Jean McClintock, of Shelter Island; his brother, Scott, and wife, Savanna, of Danbury, Connecticut; his nephew, Calvin, of Southbury, Connecticut; his grandmother, Doris McClintock, of Shelter Island; and his uncle Bob and aunt Suzie McClintock of McKinney, Texas, as well as many wonderful friends.