Nataley Davis | features editor

When James Swindal began working as chair of the philosophy department at Duquesne in 2005, Tom Rockmore had already been a professor in the program for 18 years.

He first met Rockmore at a Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy conference and was immediately struck by his sincerity.

“He was just very warm and welcoming,” Swindal said. “He invited me over to talk to a couple people … he was very, very personal with me.”

Rockmore, who lived in France with his wife, Sylvie, died peacefully on Aug. 6 at 84 after dealing with health issues.

Swindal remembered that when he started working at Duquesne, Rockmore aided him in the transition.

“He would help me with suggestions for classes that we should have,” Swindal said. “He knew a lot of the history of Duquesne and our place in what’s called continental philosophy … the kind of philosophy we do here.”

Continental philosophy deals with European and North American thinkers, challenging their ideas using lived experience and history.

Swindal and Rockmore ended up working in side by side offices at Duquesne until Rockmore eventually moved to China in 2007.

Rockmore taught at numerous universities throughout his career including Yale University, Fordham University and spent 20 years as a professor and adviser at Duquesne. He ended his career at Peking University in China, where he became an Emeritus Professor in 2023.

“He wrote extensively, he was unbelievable in some ways, just how much he wrote. … like 300 articles,” Swindal said.

He published 30 single-authored books, becoming a prominent figure in continental philosophy, according to Swindal.

Along with Rockmore’s extensive academic career, his students knew him as someone who went the extra mile for them personally.

Jim Stover, who received his PhD in philosophy from Duquesne in 2013, said that when Rockmore found out his wife was diagnosed with cancer, he would check-in with Stover frequently over the years of her battle.

“If he saw me walking down the hallway, he would come over and just say ‘Hey Jim, how is your wife doing? Is she doing ok?’” Stover said. “It’s just very touching to me that he would remember that after so many years and having so many students.”

Jonathan Mounts, who earned his PhD in philosophy from Duquesne in 2011, remembered that when his daughter was studying in France, Rockmore went to visit her because it was an area he knew well.

“It was just wonderful that he thought so much of his job and how seriously he took interest in his various students and their families,” Mounts said.

During his career, Rockmore spent some of his summers teaching at the University of Beijing, and ended up fostering a partnership between the students there and Duquesne.

Swindal said that about 15 students from China came to study at Duquesne because Rockmore helped them get grants to come to the United States for a year.

“His whole relationship with China was very very fruitful for the department. … We grew a lot in those years,” he said.

One of the students, Jun Ya, who studied at Duquesne in 2009, told The Duke that Rockmore stayed in touch after she went back to China and became a mentor to her studies.

“I keep several books he gave me, such as ‘Marx’s Dream’ and ‘Art and Truth after Plato’, close at hand,” Ya said in a statement. ”Reading his words and seeing these tangible reminders of him makes it feel as though we are still engaged in philosophical discussions.”

Colin Stragar-Rice, a former student of Rockmore’s who earned his undergraduate degree from Duquesne, said that the professor, though soft-spoken, knew what his students were capable of and pushed them to live up to it.

He remembered that as a student in the honors college, he had to take two graduate-level seminars. One of them was Rockmore’s class about Immanuel Kant’s philosophy.

Stragar-Rice described it as a “humbling experience.”

He remembered writing his final paper and emailing Rockmore asking for an extension.

The answer was “no,” because Rockmore believed in his potential.

“To have that early experience of facing a challenge that feels impossible and having somebody say ‘No, you can do this, but I need you to do it,’ really just gave me so much, not just confidence, but skill to work through that,” Stragar-Rice said.

Nataley Davis can be reached at davisn5@duq.edu