From Rudolphus9@aol.com Sun May 13 07:53:42 2001 Received: from mxu2.u.washington.edu (mxu2.u.washington.edu [140.142.32.9]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.11.2+UW01.01/8.11.2+UW01.04) with ESMTP id f4DErb0111644 for ; Sun, 13 May 2001 07:53:38 -0700 Received: from imo-r16.mx.aol.com (imo-r16.mx.aol.com [152.163.225.70]) by mxu2.u.washington.edu (8.11.2+UW01.01/8.11.2+UW01.04) with ESMTP id f4DEraK31396 for ; Sun, 13 May 2001 07:53:36 -0700 Received: from Rudolphus9@aol.com by imo-r16.mx.aol.com (mail_out_v30.10.) id d.ea.154c6011 (7866) for ; Sun, 13 May 2001 10:53:26 -0400 (EDT) From: Rudolphus9@aol.com Message-ID: Date: Sun, 13 May 2001 10:53:26 EDT Subject: In Memoriam: Robert M. Sebastian. Esq To: CLASSICS@u.washington.edu MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Language: en X-Mailer: AOL 5.0 for Mac sub 7 IN MEMORIAM: ROBERT M. SEBASTIAN, ESQ., LONGTIME MEMBER OF THE PHILADELPHIA=20 BOARD OF EDUCATION AND ADVOCATE OF LATIN Robert M. Sebastian, Esq., longserving former member of the Philadelphia=20 Board of Education, international lawyer, Republican Party leader, poet and=20 writer, scholar, and advocate of classical and modern language study died on= =20 May 4, 2001 at the age of 92 at his home in Center City Philadelphia. Mr. Sebastian, the son of an intellectually inclined South Philadelphia=20 tailor who liked to quote Dante, was appointed to the School Board in 1965 b= y=20 Mayor James Tate and remained until he retired as vice-president in 1979.=20 During his tenure he was a fierce advocate of the teaching of Latin and=20 Greek. Innovative programs in classical and modern foreign languages,=20 including the much-heralded elementary school Latin program, flourished=20 largely through his efforts. A proud graduate of South Philadelphia High=20 School and the University of Pennsylvania, he practiced law in private=20 practice and as resident counsel for the Atlantic Richfield Co. and then=20 vice-president and chief executive officer of the office of Atlantic Rich field in Brazil. Described as a GOP warhorse, he ran unsuccessfully for a=20 congressional seat in heavily Democratic Philadelphia and was a delegate to=20 the Republican National Convention in 1972. He handled international law as=20 an associate of Minnesota Republican Governor Harold Stassen, onetime=20 University of Pennsylvania President and relentless candidate for the U.S.=20 presidency. A master of six languages, Mr. Sebastian read Latin and Greek literature for= =20 fun and enjoyment and could discuss the same with geniality and wit. His own= =20 volumes of poetry and essays are replete with classical allusions and Latin=20 tags. Some of his metrical versions of Catullus have appeared in the poetry=20 section of The Classical Outlook. He was inducted honoris causa as a=20 lifemember of the Pennsylvania Classical Association and the Classical=20 Association of the Atlantic States in recognition of service to the great=20 cause of classical language education. On a number of occasions he addressed= =20 classical association meetings with passion and grace on the role and=20 relevance of classical studies from his personal perspective.. The last time that I saw him I asked him how he was. With a twinkle in his=20 eye he paraphrased Achilles in Iliad.21:108-111 in the Lattimore translation= :=20 "Do you not see what a man I am, how huge, how splendid / and born of a grea= t=20 father, and mother who bore me immortal? / Yet even I have also my death and= =20 my strong destiny,/ and there shall be a dawn or an afternoon or a noontime/= =20 when=E2=80=A6"He smiled and gave me a hug. I shall always remember it. We sh= all miss=20 him. Dr. Rudolph Masciantonio Rudolphus9@aol.com 429 S. 20th St. #A Philadelphia, PA 19146 215 732-6431 http://members.aol.com/Rudolphus9/ .