The University of Washington Department of Philosophy greatly benefited from the wisdom, service, and generous contributions of Dan Gerler, a longstanding Advisory Board member and general champion of philosophy. We all mourn the loss of Dan, who died April 15, 2024, from pancreatic cancer.
Dan Gerler was a UW student of philosophy and psychology who, after graduating, was suddenly thrust into running his father’s two Red Wing Shoes franchises after his father suffered a stroke. Dan expanded the business and opened new locations before making the decision to venture into the online world, founding OnlineShoes.com in 1996 as the nation’s first online shoe retailer. He built a career as a philosophical entrepreneur which gave him a unique outlook on business and helped him cultivate various important relationships throughout his life. Philosophy was always close to his heart, and he often told stories about using his philosophical skills in the context of his business. He joined the Department of Philosophy’s Advisory Board at its inception, and enjoyed the opportunity to attend philosophical talks and events, guide innovations within the department, and keep up with faculty and student research.
In 2015, Dan generously helped create and fund a fellowship program to support two-year innovative research projects by philosophy faculty, with each faculty fellowship designed to end with a public event to share the fruits of the research. Past fellowship recipients developed projects on Philosophy Goes to Kindergarten (Sara Goering), Communicating Scientific Uncertainty (Conor Mayo-Wilson) and Respectful Persuasion (Colin Marshall).
Dan also kindly supported the Department’s Philosophy for Children Fellowships for graduate students, and served as an Advisory Board member for the (then) Center for Philosophy for Children (now merged with the Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization, or PLATO), as well as a high school ethics bowl judge.
We are deeply saddened about Dan’s death, and will miss his friendly and thoughtful presence in and around the department. His firm belief in the value of philosophy was both extraordinary and inspiring.
We are profoundly grateful for his generous bequest to the Department of Philosophy, which will allow us to continue a version of the Gerler Faculty Fellowships and also fund Gerler Dissertation Fellowships that will strengthen the Graduate Program and the Department as a whole, and continue with his vision to publicly promote the value of philosophy.