Nuel D. Belnap Jr.

Nuel Dinsmore Belnap, Jr., born on May 1, 1930, died peacefully on June 12, 2024, in Whitefield, NH.

Nuel graduated from New Trier High School in Winnetka, IL, before attending the University of Illinois where he obtained his BA in Philosophy. After college, Nuel spent two years in the Air Force working on programming the IBM 701 computer in Washington, D.C. for the NSA before entering graduate school at Yale University where he completed both his Masters and PhD in Philosophy and taught as an Assistant Professor.

In 1963, after a year spent in Belgium on a Fulbright Fellowship, Nuel moved with his family to Pittsburgh, PA, where he began his nearly 50-year career at the University of Pittsburgh as a professor. He was the Alan Ross Anderson distinguished professor for philosophy until his retirement. Nuel’s contributions to the philosophy of logic, temporal logic, structural proof theory, and especially his work on the foundations of two very distinct theories of truth, affected generations of students and scholars around the world. An original thinker as well as a generous collaborator, Nuel wrote several books considered definitive on philosophy, logic, and truth. He visited several continents giving lectures and contributing to professional philosophical groups, and received multiple honors and awards, among them a Guggenheim Fellowship and an honorary doctorate from Leipzig University. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2008.

In addition to his passion for philosophy and logic, throughout his life Nuel loved tinkering with electronic do-it-yourself kits; motorcycles; photography; his Scottish Terriers; and visiting with his extended family at the Belnap family cottage in Marinette, Wisconsin, where he spent nearly every summer since birth.

He is survived by sons, Nuel Belnap, III, Christopher Belnap (Florence), Tyler Belnap (Paula), and daughter Mary Jo Greene (Chris), all children from his first wife (divorced), Joan Gohde Belnap, (1930-1991). He is also survived by his ten grandchildren: Autumn, Matthew (Jess), Maggie, Tess, Penelope, Owen, Ethan, Jack, Sam, Caroline, his great granddaughter, Olivia, and a multitude of beloved nieces and nephews.

He is predeceased by his three sisters Barbara, Nancy, and Dorothy as well as his parents, Nuel Dinsmore Belnap, Sr. and Elizabeth Dafter Belnap of Winnetka, IL.

Nuel retired in 2011 and moved to New Hampshire in early 2020 to be near his daughter and her family. Funeral arrangements by Phaneuf Funeral Homes in Littleton, NH. A private ceremony will be held for the family.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the University of Pittsburgh in support of the Alan Ross Anderson Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, PO Box 640093, Pittsburgh, PA 15264-0093. www.giveto.pitt.edu/alan_ross_anderson_philosophy_fund