Gregory Lavers (1974-2025)
Gregory A. Lavers, professor of philosophy at Concordia University, has died.
Professor Lavers worked on issues at the intersection of philosophy of language, philosophy of mathematics and the history of analytic philosophy. He is the author of Mathematics Is (Mostly) Analytic, published this past January, as well as many articles, book chapters, and encyclopedia entries, which you can learn more about here and here.
Greg Lavers joined the Department of Philosophy at Concordia in 2005, which he had earlier attended as an undergraduate. He earned his PhD and MA in philosophy from the University of Western Ontario.
Colleagues have commented on his gentle kindness, his calm, and his generosity. One relates how he was admired and beloved by students for his formal logic course, sharing this detail:
he had a unicycle he’d bring into this first logic class and give the first lecture, or at least a good part of it, on the unicycle, to make the point that something that looks hard becomes easy with practice—and that logic is something you can do well at if you realize what it takes for that is practice. To ease students in to it. And he did that. And they surely liked the unicycle prof.
Greg Lavers died on May 10th, 2025, from cancer. He was 50.
For more information about Lavers and his life, see this obituary in The Gazette.
Profound condolences to his family, the Concordia community, and all those affected.
I met Greg at the very first meeting of the Society for the Study of the History of Analytical Philosophy, at McMaster University back in 2012. I was a nervous and awkward graduate student, and I basically inserted myself into a conversation that he was having with a friend from grad school (in my defense, it was shop talk, related to my research). He very graciously invited me to continue the conversation with them over lunch. Networking is such a hard part of this profession, at least for me, and I was, and remain, so grateful for his kindness in that moment. I never knew him well, but we’d always catch up at SSHAP meetings after that initial one. I’ll really miss seeing him at those.
This is horribly sad news.
I was briefly a colleague of Greg’s at Concordia when I had a temporary teaching position there. Greg was a naturally quiet and gentle guy but he could also be very funny. He was extremely nice and friendly to me, the new guy in the department. He gave me excellent advice on how to teach the logic class (though he didn’t advise me to unicycle!), he invited me for beers when I didn’t know anybody else in town and he also encouraged me to be brave about cycling through the insane cold and snow of a Montreal winter. We gradually fell out of touch over the years after I’d left Concordia, until one day he emailed me out of the blue with an extremely helpful and penetrating comment on a paper of mine. Now how I wish I had stayed in better contact with Greg – such an excellent philosopher and an excellent human.
I was an undergrad at Concordia and had Greg for both logic and a fourth year M&E course. Greg was so gentle and kind. I also remember him He riding his unicycle into one of the first classes for his logic course; the lesson was you might not be able to ride a unicycle or do proofs today, but with practice you can. This is an incredible loss for Concordia. My heartfelt condolences to his family and colleagues.
I had Professor Lavers for Intro to Logic in Fall 2007, my first year studying philosophy at Concordia. I remember well his unicycle demonstration. He was a great logic teacher, very funny in an understated way, and a generous and kind man. Like most philosophy professors, he authored a document he gave to students about how to write philosophy papers. I still think about that document today when I’m writing.
I am deeply saddened to read this terrible news. I met Greg at the Primer Congreso Colombiano De Logica, Epistemologia Y Filosofia De La Ciencia in Bogota in 2009 and we’ve corresponded from time to time since then. I learned a lot from his work on Carnap and about informal mathematics. Even more, I cherished his warmth and kindness, his humility and openness. He was a uniquely wonderful guy. My sincere condolences to his family.
I had the privilege of studying and working with Professor Lavers for seven years. In his professional interactions, it would be difficult to describe him without indulging in superlatives. Best wishes to his family and anyone close to hom personally.