Obituary: Vere Chappell, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy

Vere Chappell
Vere Chappell

Vere Claiborne Chappell, born in Rochester, New York on March 22, 1930 died in North Adams, Massachusetts on Jan. 28.  His wife, Sheryl Chappell, predeceased him.  He leaves six children: Jennifer Chappell, Jonathan Chappell, David Chappell, Vere Chappell, Addison Chappell, Misa Chappell and two-step children, Clayton Templin and Jamie Amby.

Vere was a member of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst from 1970 until 2006, when he retired as a professor.  Vere earned a BA in 1952, an MA in 1953 and a Ph.D. in philosophy in 1958, all from Yale University.  He began his teaching career as an Instructor at the University of Chicago in 1957, becoming a professor in 1968.  He joined the department of philosophy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1970 as its head and served in that position until 1974 when he was appointed acting dean of the Graduate School and acting associate provost.  He served as associate provost until 1978 at which time he returned to his teaching career full time.

He earned many awards for his academic work including a Fellowship from the National Endowment of the Humanities and a Research Tools Grant from the same source.  He received a grant from the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities and a fellowship from the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities at the University of Massachusetts.  He accepted invitations to serve as visiting professor at Indiana University, the University of Illinois-both Chicago and Urbana, the University of Notre Dame, the University of Southern California as well as at other members of the Five College system, including Smith, Mount Holyoke and Amherst Colleges.  

Vere’s published work in Philosophy includes a striking number of works as editor, which have become standards in their field:

The Cambridge Companion to Locke (Cambridge University Press, 1994)

The Philosophy of David Hume (Modern Library, 1963)

Twenty-five Years of Descartes Scholarship, 1960-1984: A Bibliography, with Willis Doney (Garland Press, 1987)