Prof. Kwame Gyekye passes away
The death is announced of Emeritus Professor Kwame Gyekye, a retired professor of Philosophy of the University of Ghana and former Board Chairman of the Graphic Communications Group Limited.
He was the husband of Mrs Joana Dedo Gyekye and father of Dr Maame Gyekye-Jandoh, Dr Asantewa Gyekye-Kusi, and Ms Abena Gyekye-Milner.
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Professional life
Prof. Gyekye was appointed a lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Ghana in October 1969 and promoted Senior Lecturer in April 1974, Associate Professor in June 1977, and full professor in April 1984.
In May 2011, he was elevated to the status of an Emeritus Professor. For the 40 years of his service to the University of Ghana until his retirement in 2009, he taught many different courses in Western African and Arabic philosophies at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
He also taught courses in Classics in the then Department of Classical History and Civilisations (which has currently merged with the Department of Philosophy to form the Department of Philosophy and Classics), the erstwhile Faculty of Law (now the School of Law), and the Department of Religions (now the Department for the Study of Religions.)
Additionally, Prof. Gyekye had visiting professorships in many universities, including the University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida; Howard University, Washington, DC; Temple University, Philadelphia and University of Pennsylvania, USA.
During his academic career, Emeritus Prof. Gyekye studied several languages; Latin, Greek, French, Arabic, Persian (Farsi), and German.
Awards
He won several awards, including the J. E. K. Aggrey Fellowship by the Phelps-Stokes Fund of New York, and the Edward W. Hazen Foundation of New Haven, Connecticut (USA), for graduate study at Harvard (1964-1967), and a Fellowship from the African-American Institute to complete graduate work at Harvard (1967-1969).
In December 2017, Emeritus Prof. Gyekye won the Kwame Nkrumah African Genius Award for Philosophy.
Between July 2003 and December 2006, he served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Graphic Communications Group Limited.
Funeral arrangements will be announced later.