CARLO ASCHERI

l936 - 1967
Carlo Ascheri was born in Ventimiglia, Italy on February 16,
1936. After attending the schools in his home town, he went
to study philosophy at the Scuola Normale of Pisa, and then
at the University of Heidelberg, where he was also a Lecturer
in the Italian Department. His main intellectual interest was
the social philosophy of the Hegelian left, particularly the
philosophy of Ludwig Feuerbach. When he came to teach at Vassar
in 1963, he tried to pursue those studies, but soon found that
the materials available here were very inadequate. Though he
was very happy here for personal reasons, professional considera-
tions forced him to return to Germany; there, a Thyssen fellow-
ship allowed him to work on Feuerbach uninterruptedly for two
years. In that time he wrote a number of things of such high
quality that he came to be considered one of Europe's leading
scholars in his field. The Meiner Verlag had commissioned him
to edit the first two volumes of a new edition of the complete
works of Feuerbach. His German article entitled "Notwendigkeit
einergveranderung" established the basis for a new interpreta-I
tion of Feuerbach's early thought. He was invited to address
international conferences and seminars. By the spring of 1967,
he felt he was well along enough in his work to accept an invita-
tion to return to Vassar the following fall -— especially since
he had now started studying on translating the works of Herbert
Marcuse, many of whose disciples are in this country. ‘
That sumer, Mr. Ascheri married Heidi Osterloh. They arrived
in Poughkeepsie in September, and had barely finished setting
up a delightful apartment in Keyes, when a sudden cerebral
hemorrhage carried him away on November 29, 1967 at the age
of 31. .
Carlo Ascheri, the young scholar, has received academic recogni-
tion worthy of men twice his age. His notes have been gathered,
and will be published as books and articles by friends working in
the same field. His nearly finished translation of Marcuse has
been completed by his wife and will appear this summer. A Fest-
schrift in his honor was published a few months ago, and included
contributions by outstanding European scholars. But for Carlo

CARLO ASCHERI (Continued)
Ascheri the man, the gentle, honest, completely integral man,
the sensitive loyal friend, there can be no adequate eulogy.
Respectfully submitted,
Mario Domandi