Abstract
In this essay, I describe Bob Veatch’s career from the perspective of a colleague and friend. Bob and I started our professional careers at the same time and quickly came into professional contact. With Bob’s move from the Hastings Center to the Kennedy Institute, we became colleagues and worked for almost a decade on our book on death and dying. He was an outstanding co-editor and author. I believe he knew more about the philosophically connected issues in this area of bioethics than anyone publishing in the area, and it was an area of intellectual interest that he pursued throughout his career. Beyond bioethics, Bob and I shared our shared love of contemporary bluegrass music, especially the songs of The Seldom Scene. Bob studied them much as he studied bioethics—with deep knowledge and seriousness. He was just a scholar by nature and with excellent training and experience. If we were to create a Hall of Fame for bioethics, Bob might be the first person elected.
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References
Beauchamp, Tom L. 1980. Suicide. In Matters of Life and Death, ed. Tom Regan, 67–108. Revised for two subsequent editions with the same book editor, published in 1987 (by Random House) and 1992 (by McGraw Hill).
Beauchamp, Tom L., and Seymour Perlin, eds. 1978. Ethical Issues in Death and Dying. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall Inc.
Beauchamp, Tom L., and Robert M. Veatch, eds. 1996. Ethical Issues in Death and Dying, 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson-Prentice-Hall.
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Beauchamp, T.L. Robert Veatch’s early career in bioethics, contributions to the field, and career at Georgetown University. Theor Med Bioeth 43, 187–192 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11017-022-09573-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11017-022-09573-4