RlCE UNIVERSITY STUDIES
rose at once above the momentary to the abiding principles of the Ameri-
can faith. His statement of what our country stands for and strives t0
make actual was so affirmative, so direct, so simple, so artlessly elo-
quent that those who heard him were lifted out of their seats in spo∏.
taneous ovation. What he did at that moment revealed the philosopher;
he stood with the others and joined in the ovation. It was clear to h⅛
that not he but the idea of America had inspired the outburst of e∏.
thusiasm. With humility he saw himself as the servant of this idea, the
instrument through which it could speak; so he disclaimed personal credit
for his utterance.
The communication of ideas outside the academic community is a nat-
ural extension of the life of a scholar. Tsanoff exerted a powerful, con-
structive influence on the larger community in other ways as well, as is
instanced by his service for twenty-eight years on the Board of Directors
of the Houston Symphony Society. Especially during early years, when it
was engaged in a relentless struggle for existence, he grappled energet-
ically with the emergencies, even helping to canvass possible contribu-
tors by phone. For eight years he was also a Trustee of the Houston
Museum of Fine Arts.
While in these and other ways the duties of a citizen and neighbor
were being ungrudgingly discharged, his real work was being done in
the scholar’s study. A bare glance at the bibliography listed elsewhere in
this volume will give an idea of the fruitfulness of the countless hours
spent there. Titles alone cannot be expected to reveal the erudition, the
discriminating judgment, the mastery of balance and rhythm, which make
one page after another noteworthy in many essays and books. By virtue
of these accomplishments and the force of his personality, Tsanoff for
decades personified philosophy to Rice and Rice to the philosophical
world. I shall venture a little later to give a broad indication of the phi-
losophy that inspires his writing and informs his life.
For the present I wish to emphasize that absorption in his own cre-
ative work never prevented or delayed his discharge of other duties
to the institution which he served. He always carried a full teaching load,
usually with large classes, and never in his whole career had the assis-
tance of a reader. He served efficiently on committees, including the time-
consuming Committee on Examinations and Standing, of which he was
a member for sixteen years. And, most significantly, he for forty-two
years built the philosophy holdings in the library, from two volumes in
1914 to the excellent collection that with little more than routine ad-
ditions will support the research activities of a growing department
throughout the future. During those years, he was also administratively
responsible for Philosophy, for Education, for Psychology. Those who
know the distractions of such complex duties wonder how he did so much.