Honoree-
Morimichi Watanabe

Dr. Morimichi Watanabe earned his law degree from the University of Tokyo, Japan in 1948. He came to the United States in 1950, studying first at Princeton University from 1950-1952 and later earning his M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University. He began teaching in the Political Science Department at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University in 1963. During his tenure, he has seen both C.W. Post and the University as a whole grow and diversify. He is grateful for the institution’s support of his many academic and professional endeavors and activities and feels truly blessed to have touched the lives of some very bright and gifted students who have challenged him and inspired his teaching.

Dr. Watanabe has focused a large part of his life’s work on Nicholas of Cusa, a 15th century German cardinal, philosopher and political theorist. He is the author of three books on the subject “The Political Ideas of Nicholas of Cusa,” Librairie Droz, 1963; “Nicolaus Cusanus,” Seigakuin University Press, 2000; and “Concord and Reform: Nicholas of Cusa and Legal and Political Thought in the Fifteenth Century,” Ashgate, 2001. He also has translated Paul Oskar Kristeller’s “Renaissance Thought” as “Runessansu no Shiso,” The University of Tokyo Press, 1979. In addition, he has authored 52 articles and 24 book reviews in scholarly journals.

Active and involved both on and off campus, he is president of the American Cusanus Society and editor of its newsletter; a member of the Wissenshaftlicher Beirat (Scholarly Advisory Board), Cusanus-Gesellschaft, Germany in addition to serving as honorary advisor of the Japanese Cusanus Society. Dr. Watanabe has been a visiting professor at universities across Japan and is the recipient of numerous research grants. In 1976, he received the Dean’s Recognition Award from C.W. Post followed by the Trustee Award for Scholarly Achievement in 1981 from Long Island University. He and his wife, Kiyomi, have one son and one granddaughter.

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