IP: Ken Phillips

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> Dr. Kenneth L. Phillips died on Saturday, May 27th in New York's St. 
> Vincent Hospital after a long illness. Ken was a good friend and an 
> inspiration to many of us in this dizzying world of every-changing 
> telecommunications technology. He was a vice-president of Citicorp for 
> many years, where he spearheaded their entry into global telecom-based 
> banking and finance, and headed an industry group of top U.S. firms 
> lobbying for more competition in telecom services. In this latter effort 
> he was most successful.
>
> Ken was a true polymath. Telecom was not his only expertise (we taught a 
> course together for many years at NYU on the history of 
> telecommunications). Ken taught music theory at Tanglewood among other 
> places, and was an accomplished pianist, self-taught aided by his 
> exquisite innate ability of perfect pitch (he was proud of the fact that 
> he never learned to read music - all he had to do is hear a piece and he 
> could immediately play it perfectly).
>
> Ken taught courses on the psychology of creativity and on telecom 
> engineering. He authored numerous papers on psychology, cryptology, 
> mathematics, engineering, and public policy. He testified  many times 
> before Congress and state public utility commissions.
>
> He earned his Ph. D. from City University in New York in Psychology. He 
> loved to tell how he paid his way through college by working as a radio 
> announcer in New York and Boston; among the roles he would recreate was 
> that of the "Voice of Jello." He certainly had a wonderful sense of humor 
> and never hesitated to laugh at his own foibles.
>
> Ken was an expert on the I Ching, writing a landmark paper on the 
> parallels between it and the structure of DNA! He practiced as a Jungian 
> analyst for many years, caring for his clients until quite recently 
> despite his illness.
>
> But Ken's main love in life was his Koalas in Australia. He devoted a 
> month every year to attending to these threatened animals, performing eye 
> operations, documenting their behavior in photographs and video, and 
> writing a marvelous book on their habits and habitats which he illustrated 
> himself. (Koalas: Australia's Ancient Ones, Macmillan, 1994.)
>
> We will miss Ken. He had a significant influence on our times.
>
> A second memorial service is planned for September 20th in New York City. 
> If you are interested in attending, please send me an email & I will keep 
> you informed as to the time and place.
>
> Richard Solomon
> mailto:rjs () goodread com