North American Scholar

HELD, Dirk Tom Dieck

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  • Date of Birth (YYYY-MM-DD): 1939-03-24
  • Born City: New York
  • Born State/Country: NY
  • Parents: Ethel Crofton Hunt & Oskar Eduard Heinrich H.
  • Date of Death (YYYY-MM-DD): 2012-03-19
  • Death City: Westerly
  • Death State/Country: CT
  • Married: Elizabeth Candace Allen, June 16, 1962.
  • Education:

    A.B. Brown, 1960, Ph.D., 1972.
  • Professional Experience:

    Instr. St. Mark’s School, Southborough, Mass., 1960-62; instr. Classics & Inst. Liberal Arts, Emory U., 1967-71; asst. prof. through prof. Connecticut College 1971-2012; Elizabeth S. Kruidenier '48 Professor of Classics; assoc. dean, faculty, 1993-5; spl. asst. to provost, 1995-98; vis. Scholar Cambridge, 1978; asst ed., Helios, 1975-9; pres. Bd trustees, Pine Point School, Stonington, CT, 1976-82; member, mng comm ASCSA, 1980- 2012; NEH fell. for interrelations between science & humanities, 1974-5; Helen B. Regan Faculty Leadership Award, Connecticut College, 2007.
  • Dissertation:

    "The Fragments of Anaxagoras: Some Problems Textual and Philosophical" (Brown, 1972)
  • Publications:

    "Socratic Modes of Reason in Plato, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche" in Socrates: Reason or Unreason as the Foundation of European Identity, ed. Ann Ward (2007); "Antigone on the Neckar: Greek Tragedy and Enigmas of the Modern," New England Classical Journal (2007); "Eros, Beauty and the Divine in Plato," New England Classical Journal (August 2009) 155-168; "Europe, History, Postmodernism: Greece and the Problem of Aboriginality," Actas del VIII Congresso Cultura Europea. Navarra: Editorial Aranzadi (2009) 41-46; "From Ashurbanipal to Plato: Religion and Naturalism in Ancient Science," Language and the Scientific Imagination, Proceedings of the 11th International Conference of the International Society for the Study of European Ideas, Helsinki (2010).
  • Notes:

    Dirk Held was the chair of the classics department at Connecticut College for 32 years. His research specialty was the reception of the classical tradition in European and American culture. He reviewed frequently for Ancient History Bulletin, Ancient Philosophy, Bryn Mawr Classical Review, Canadian Philosophical Reviews, Classical World, New England Classical Journal, and Review of Metaphysics. His colleague in Italian, Robert Proctor said, "He was a modern exemplar of ancient Roman humanities: culture, kindness, generosity, and wit." Descended from Pierre S. DuPont (1739-1817), he is buried in the DuPont family cemetery in Wilmington, Delaware.
  • Sources:

    NYTimes (6 April 2012); Westerly Sun (5 April 2012); WhAm 55 (2001) 2299.
  • Author: Candace Held