RADOSLAV ANDREA TSANOFF
so often by not being subservient to cautious reason, but not by an initial dis-
missal of reason, How wisely St. Thomas Aquinas counselled his theological
doctors: Go with reason as far as it takes you, in its right direction; faith will
then take you the rest of the way. fn many fields of spiritual activity this same
basic wisdom has been expressed. So Pasteur affirmed that the great creative
ideas come to minds that have been prepared for them by thorough inquiry.
And Poincaré: After having tried really hard, stop trying, and it will achieve
itself. From scaling the ideal heights, will some of my readers turn to plain
mountain climbing? On the slippery trails inexperienced foolhardiness may
prove fatal. But repeatedly the seasoned climber comes to a step of precarious
outcome, where only a resolute leap can sway the possible odds between success
and disaster. The lower ramparts of achievement may be reduced by plodding
reflection, but eventually genius must storm the citadels of perfection. The fuller
truth, however, requires that we write this last sentence also in the reverse
order, so as to include the recognition of the superlative capacity for hard
work.’
The bare facts of Tsanoff,s academic biography are hardly a respect-
able shadow of the vital substance, but may be included for the sake of
the record. He was born in Sofia, Bulgaria, January 3, 1887. His father
was an author, educator, and newspaper editor, and young Radoslav
grew up in the security of a strong family, which shared and prized the
high literary and intellectual heritage of all Europe, When at fifteen he
looked for further education beyond the borders of his Balkan home-
land, he did not turn, as one might expect, to the powerful nations
of Europe or to England, but to the United States. In this he was fol-
lowing his father, who had studied at Cornell University as a young man.
The fifteen-year old prepared for America by spending a year at Robert
College, the American school in Constantinople. In 1903 he entered Ober-
lin College in Oberlin, Ohio, completed his undergraduate course with
distinction in three years, and proceeded to Cornell University for his
doctor’s degree, which he received in 1910.
With the exception of the first two years, spent at Clark University,
in Worcester, Massachusetts, a strange interlude at Shrivenham Ameri-
can University in Berkshire, England, in 1945, several visiting profes-
sorships, and, after retirement, two years as M. D. Anderson Professor
of Philosophy at the University of Houston, Tsanoff’s entire professional
career is identified with Rice, where since 1961 he has held an appoint-
ment as Trustee Distinguished Professor of Humanities.
His marriage in 1912 to a Cornell co-ed, Corrinne Stephenson, was
enduringly a spectacular success, yielding two talented daughters, four
handsome grandsons, and, at last count, two great-grandchildren. Mrs.
Tsanoff, in addition to the myriad activities of wife, mother and grand-
mother, hostess, and leader in community service, has typed all her
husband’s manuscripts and staunchly assisted him in the dreadful chore
of seeing book after book through the press.