William Theodore de Bary ( zh, c=狄培理, p=Dí Péilǐ; August 9, 1919 – July 14, 2017) was an American

Sinologist Sinology, also referred to as China studies, is a subfield of area studies or East Asian studies involved in social sciences and humanities research on China. It is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of the Chinese civilizatio ...

and scholar of East Asian philosophy who was a professor and administrator at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

for nearly 70 years. De Bary graduated from Columbia College in 1941, where he was a student in the first year of Columbia's famed Literature Humanities course. He then briefly took up graduate studies at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

before leaving to serve in American military intelligence in the Pacific Theater of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Upon his return, he resumed his studies at Columbia, where he completed his Ph.D. in 1953.

Life and career

William Theodore "Ted" de Bary was born on August 9, 1919, in

The Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, and grew up in

Leonia, New Jersey Leonia is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 9,304, an increase of 367 (+4.1%) from the 2010 United Sta ...

. De Bary's great-uncle was the German surgeon and botanist

Anton de Bary Heinrich Anton de Bary (26 January 183119 January 1888) was a German surgeon, botanist, microbiologist, and mycologist (fungal systematics and physiology). He is considered a founding father of plant pathology (phytopathology) as well as the foun ...

, and his father William de Bary (1882–1963) immigrated to the U.S. from Germany in 1914. His parents divorced when he was a small child, and his mother raised him as a single mother. He formally changed his first name to "Wm." to distinguish himself from his father. He entered

in 1937, and began studying Chinese the following year as a sophomore. After graduating with his

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in 1941, de Bary began graduate study in Chinese at

, but the following year he was recruited by the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

to undergo intensive training in

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

and serve as an intelligence officer in the Pacific Theatre of

. In 1947, de Bary left the military and returned to Columbia for graduate study in Chinese. He received an MA in 1948 followed by a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in 1953 with a dissertation entitled "A Plan for the Prince: the ''Ming-i tai-fang lu'' of Huang Tsung-hsi", and became a professor afterward. From 1960 to 1966 he served as the chair of the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures. He served as president of the Association for Asian Studies from 1969 to 1970. De Bary was active in faculty intervention during the

Columbia University protests of 1968 In 1968, a series of protests at Columbia University in New York City were one among the various student demonstrations that Protests of 1968, occurred around the globe in that year. The Columbia protests erupted over the spring of that year aft ...

. He served as Columbia University's provost from 1971 to 1978. De Bary was famous for rarely missing a

Columbia Lions The Columbia University Lions are the collective athletic teams and their members from Columbia University, an Ivy League institution in New York City, United States. The current director of athletics is Peter Pilling. History Intercollegia ...

football game since he began teaching at the university in 1953.

Work on the Core Curriculum

He reshaped the

Core Curriculum In education, a curriculum (; : curriculums or curricula ) is the totality of student experiences that occur in an educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view of the student's experi ...

of Columbia College to include

Great Books A classic is a book accepted as being exemplary or particularly noteworthy. What makes a book "classic" is a concern that has occurred to various authors ranging from Italo Calvino to Mark Twain and the related questions of "Why Read the Cl ...

and classes devoted to non-Western civilizations. In order to create textbooks for the non-Western version of the Columbia humanities course, he drew together teams of scholars to translate original source material, ''Sources of Chinese Tradition'' (1960), ''Sources of Japanese Tradition'', and ''Sources of Indian Tradition''. His extensive publications made the case for the universality of Asian values and a tradition of democratic values in Confucianism. He is recognized as training the graduate students and mentoring the scholars who created the field of

Neo-Confucian Neo-Confucianism (, often shortened to ''lǐxué'' 理學, literally "School of Principle") is a Morality, moral, Ethics, ethical, and metaphysics, metaphysical Chinese philosophy influenced by Confucianism, which originated with Han Yu (768� ...

studies. De Bary founded the Heyman Center for the Humanities in 1976 and served as its director. A recognized educator, he won Columbia's Great Teacher Award in 1970, its

Lionel Trilling Lionel Mordecai Trilling (July 4, 1905 – November 5, 1975) was an American literary critic, short story writer, essayist, and teacher. He was one of the leading U.S. critics of the 20th century who analyzed the contemporary cultural, social, ...

Book Award for ''Neo-Confucian Orthodoxy and Heart and the Learning of the Mind-and-Heart'' in 1983 and its

Mark Van Doren Mark Van Doren (June 13, 1894 – December 10, 1972) was an American poet, writer and critic. He was a scholar and a professor of English at Columbia University for nearly 40 years, where he inspired a generation of influential writers and thin ...

Award for Great Teaching in 1988.

Personal life

De Bary lived in Tappan, New York at his home which was named Hotokudo. He was married to Mary Fanny Brett de Bary and had four children. He continued teaching until the end of the spring semester in 2017, only a few months before his death at the age 97.

Prizes and honors

* Watumull Prize of the

American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world, claiming over 10,000 members. Founded in 1884, AHA works to protect academic free ...

, 1958 * Fishburn Prize of Educational Press Association, 1964 * Elected to the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

, 1974 * Edwin O. Reischauer Lectures, 1986 * Elected to the

American Philosophical Association The American Philosophical Association (APA) is the main professional organization for philosophers in the United States. Founded in 1900, its mission is to promote the exchange of ideas among philosophers, to encourage creative and scholarl ...

, 1999 * Elevated to the

Order of the Rising Sun The is a Japanese honors system, Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge feat ...

, Third Class * Philolexian Award for Distinguished Literary Achievement, 2010 * National Humanities Medal, 2013 *

Tang Prize The Tang Prize ( zh, c=唐獎) is a set of Taiwanese biennial international awards bestowed in four fields: Sustainable Development, Biopharmaceutical Science, Sinology, and Rule of Law. Nomination and selection are conducted by an independent se ...

in Sinology, 2016

Honorary degrees

* St. Lawrence University, DLitt, 1968 *

Loyola University of Chicago Loyola University Chicago (Loyola or LUC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1870 by the Society of Jesus, Loyola is one of the largest Catholic universities in the United States. Its namesa ...

, LHD, 1970 *

. DLitt, 1994

Major works

Original works

* ''The Great Civilized Conversation: Education for a World Community'' (CUP, 2013) * ''Self and Society in Ming Thought'' (ACLS Humanities E-Book, 2011) * ''Living Legacies at Columbia'' (CUP, 2006) * ''Nobility and Civility: Asian Ideals of Leadership and the Common Good'', ( Harvard UP, 2004) * ''Asian Values and Human Rights: A Confucian Communitarian Perspective''. Harvard UP (2000) * ''Learning for One's Self: Essays on the Individual in Neo-Confucian Thought'' (CUP, 1991) * ''The Trouble with Confucianism'', (Harvard UP, 1991) * ''Eastern canons: Approaches to the Asian Classics'' (CUP, 1990) * ''Message of the mind in Neo-Confucianism'' (CUP, 1989) * ''Neo-Confucian Education: the Formative Stage'' (University of California Press, 1989) * ''East Asian Civilizations: a Dialogue in Five Stages'', (Harvard UP, 1988) * ''The Rise of Neo-Confucianism in Korea'' (1985) * ''The Liberal Tradition in China '' (Chinese University of Hong Kong Press, 1983) * ''Yüan thought: Chinese Thought and Religion under the Mongols'' (CUP, 1982) * ''Neo-Confucian Orthodoxy and the Learning of the Mind-And-Heart'' (CUP, 1981) * ''Principle and Practicality: Essays in Neo-Confucianism and Practical Learning'' (CUP, 1979) * ''Unfolding of Neo-Confucianism'' (CUP, 1975) * ''Self and Society in Ming Thought'' (CUP, 1970) * ''The Buddhist Tradition in India, China and Japan'' (Random House, 1969) * ''Approaches to Asian Civilizations'' (CUP, 1964) * ''Guide to Oriental Classics'' (CUP, 1964) end ed. 1975. 3rd ed. 1988

Original translations

* ''Waiting for the Dawn: a Plan for the Prince'' (1993) * ''Five Women who Loved Love'' (Tuttle, 1956)

Edited volumes

* ''Finding Wisdom in East Asian Classics'' (CUP, 2011) * ''Sources of East Asian Tradition''. 2 vols ol. 1 published subtitled ''Premodern Asia'' ol 2 subtitled ''The modern Period''(CUP, 2008) * ''Sources of Korean Tradition: Volume 1'' (Harvard UP, 1997) 2nd ed. 2001 * ''Confucianism and Human Rights'' (CUP, 1998) with Tu Weiming * ''Sources of Japanese Tradition'' (1958), with Ryūsaku Tsunoda and

Donald Keene Donald Lawrence Keene (June 18, 1922 – February 24, 2019) was an American-born Japanese scholar, historian, teacher, writer and translator of Japanese literature. Keene was University Professor emeritus and Shincho Professor Emeritus of Japane ...

2nd ed published as ''earliest times to 1600'' (2001) with Donald Keene, George Tanabe, Paul Varley vol 2 published as ''1600 to 2000'' with Carol Gluck and Arthur Tiedemann (2005) * ''Sources of Chinese Tradition: Volume 1'' (CUP, 1960) expanded 2 vols ed. Columbia UP, 1999 and 2000 * ''Approaches to the Oriental Classics: Asian Literature and Thought in General Education'' (1958/9) * ''Sources of Indian Tradition'', 2 vols (1957 and 1964), with Stephen N. Hay and I. H. Qureshi 2nd ed. 1988

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:De Bary, William Theodore 1919 births 2017 deaths American people of German descent American sinologists Columbia College (New York) alumni Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Columbia University faculty Harvard University alumni Members of the American Philosophical Society Military personnel from New York City National Humanities Medal recipients New Confucian philosophers People from Leonia, New Jersey Presidents of the Association for Asian Studies Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun, 3rd class Writers from the Bronx