Lewis “Max” Rogers, as his friends called him, served as philosophy department chair in the late 1960s to early 1970s and specialized in the fields of religious histories, biblical studies and comparative religions.
Rogers, professor emeritus who taught philosophy at the U for 35 years, passed away Aug. 24 in St. George, Utah.
“It’s a great loss,” said philosophy professor Clifton McIntosh, who worked with Rogers for 10 years before he retired in the early 1990s. “He was a great colleague and an excellent teacher. I learned a lot about the New Testament from him. He truly was an expert in the philosophy of religion.”
Rogers was born in Logan, Utah, in 1918. He received his bachelor of science degree from Utah State University and doctorate in philosophy from the University of Southern California after serving in the U.S. military during World War II.
Philosophy professor Bruce Landesman, who began teaching at the U in 1968, said Rogers and his wife, Betty, often attended parties thrown by younger faculty members, where he gained the respect and friendship of instructors and graduate students 20 years his junior.
“He was a gentle, kind and wonderful man who was respected and loved by his students and colleagues,” Landesman said. “Max was not a big publisher, but he was a great scholar on the origins of Christianity.”
Lewis Rogers