Combining Religion, Law, and Language into a Distinguished Career
Born, Madrid, 1922, and brought up in Cuba after the death of his father, Leslie Dewart, right (whose surname Duarte, was anglicized), began to study medicine at the University of Havana but gave it up, 1942, the year he came to Canada to join the RCAF. As a pilot, he served in bomber-reconnaissance operations over the North Atlantic remaining in the RCAF until 1947 when he enrolled at University of Toronto, and discovered he loved Philosophy and wanted to teach. On earning an M.A, 1952, and Ph.D., 1954, he taught, University of Detroit, 1954-56, returning to the University of Toronto where he taught in the Department of Philosophy, St. Michael’s College, until 1968. That year the University of Toronto established a Department of Religious Studies and Dr. Dewart spent the next 20 years there before his retirement. He also gained an LL.B., 1979, and was called to the Bar of Ontario, 1981. Author of five books between 1963 and 1989, and more than 30 papers on religion, language and law, Professor Dewart became a Senior Research Associate, Faculty of Divinity, Trinity College, 1995, and is at present writing his sixth book on the philosophy of the mind. Here he enjoys a reunion with his oldest Canadian friend, Dr. Ralph Yorsh, of Vancouver, British Columbia, a pioneer in the use of hypnosis in dentistry. [Photo, courtesy Professor Leslie Dewart]