I note sadly the recent passing of two gentlemen and intellectual giants I had the good fortune to know, James Sadowsky and Ronald Hamowy. I met both through Murray Rothbard, who beginning more than 60 years ago attracted a unique group of libertarian thinkers who became the catalysts for the emergence of the modern libertarian movement. Sadowsky, a Jesuit priest and retired professor of logic at Fordham University, and Hamowy, a retired professor of intellectual history at the University Alberta, Canada, were not the highest profile libertarians intellectuals in the movement. But each in his own way influenced many people through personal contact and their important writings.
We will be poorer without them.
For details of their lives and accomplishments, see Brian Doherty's, Steve Cox's, and David Boaz's notices about Hamowy and David Gordon's recollection of his dear friend Jim Sadowsky.
I had the pleasure of crossing paths with Sadowsky many years ago at a few conferences. I remember most that he was gracious to a young beginner, and that he was a great lunch companion.
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