(Photo courtesy of the University of Chicago News Office)

Goodbye, Mr. Sinaiko

Memorial service celebrates a teacher “who lived for the moment of engagement.”

This past Friday friends, family, and colleagues packed Bond Chapel for a service honoring Herman L. Sinaiko, AB’47, PhD’61, longtime professor in the humanities and the College.

Sinaiko, who taught for six decades at the University, died October 2 in Hyde Park. He was 82.

Speakers recalled Sinaiko’s love of argument, his respect for students, and his passion for Socrates, Plato, and turtlenecks. Below are excerpts from some of the tributes:

“I’ve never worn a turtleneck in my life … [but] today I am, because of what it represented to him: rebellion. He didn’t answer to authority and everything that was symbolized by the necktie. … [His] political ideas [weren’t] something he wore on his sleeve, much less his neck, but [they] did permeate his values. … His politics and worldview are what I’m really most grateful for and what I care about most.”—Jesse Sinaiko, son

“He taught us that [Plato’s Republic] was a deadly serious book and also a playful book, and that it would repay any amount of time spent with it. … Sadly, we have lost in Herman an interlocutor who was always serious, always playful, and was always a friend with whom it was wonderful to spend time.”—Stephen Gabel, AB’70, AM’75, PhD’87, associate provost for academic affairs

“Steve Gabel said, ‘Herman didn’t push, he pulled.’ This is true. Herman always insisted somehow gently but vigorously at the same time. He always drew you out, questioned you, pulled you forward. … In class or a tutorial, he always created an atmosphere in which discussion and questioning appeared and grew and ended in anticipation of the next time. … He possessed a natural kindness, a natural integrity, accompanied by a simple, thorough dignity. … His many students over the years were deeply affected by these qualities. … He became a moral and intellectual touchstone for generations who made their way through the College.”—Arthur Devenport, AB’68, AM’76

“The moment of engagement—that’s what my Dad lived for. As a teacher and artist myself, I feel his greatest gift to me … and to the world was an understanding of the profound value of the moment of engagement, the spark between people grappling face to face with something together. … [Some months before he died], he treated us all to an impromptu seminar from his hospital bed. … The nurse who came to take his vital signs in the middle of the lesson ended up staying to listen. … We were all rapt.”—David Sinaiko, U-High’80, son

“Before our first paper was due, a student asked, ‘How do you grade?’ ‘Well,’ [Sinaiko] replied, ‘you can answer the questions correctly and I’ll give you a [passing grade]. If you want a B, the paper should be well written.’ It didn’t seem like he was going to go on. So someone meekly asked, ‘What do we have to do to get an A?’ He answered, ‘You have to teach me something.’”—Jean Sitterly Treese, AB’66, associate dean of students in the College and a student in Sinaiko’s class in the 1960s

“Herman Sinaiko was indeed a rare and extraordinary human being. But he also challenged his students and us, his colleagues, to see how much we did not know that we really should have. For that, too, we were privileged to have had him as a teacher.”—Donald Levine, AB’50, AM’54, PhD’57, the Peter B. Ritzma professor of sociology


Contributions to the Herman L. Sinaiko Fellowship fund may be sent to the Office of the Dean of the College, 1116 E. 59th Street, Chicago, IL 60637.