Gerald A. Press, an internationally renowned scholar of Plato and Platonism who taught for many years at Hunter College, died on December 25, 2022 at age 77.
Press, who earned his doctorate from the University of California, San Diego in 1974, taught thousands of students about Ancient Greek philosophy during his almost 40 tenure at Hunter and advised many doctoral students at the CUNY Graduate Center.
In addition to his essential contributions to the Hunter Philosophy Department, Press was a long-time pillar of the interdisciplinary Thomas Hunter Honors Program and served as its chair from 2012-2020.
Press wrote scores of articles and books on Plato, Plotinus and other luminaries of ancient and medieval philosophy, and had recently completed the forthcoming Bloomsbury Handbook of Plato with Mateo Duque.
From 1990-1997, he served as book editor and, from 1998-2003, as editor, of the prestigious Journal of the History of Philosophy.
He is survived by his partner, Rebecca Coffey; his son Nicholas Press; his sister Linda Dunn; three nephews, Michael, David, and Daniel Dunn; as well as many cousins.
