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