Fadlou Albert Shehadi, Rutgers Emeritus Professor of Philosophy and professional singer, died at his home in Princeton on February 29, 2012 from congestive heart failure. He was 86.

A native of Beirut, Lebanon, Shehadi graduated magna cum laude from the American University of Beirut, and in 1949 came to Princeton University for his doctorate in philosophy. Mr. Shehadi joined the Rutgers University Department of Philosophy in 1953 and taught there until his retirement in 1994. He chaired the department at Douglass College for a total of nine years, and twice directed the Rutgers Study Abroad program in France.

He is best known for his pioneering work in the study of Islamic philosophy. His first two books on Ghazali's religious philosophy championed the use of philosophical analysis in the study of a field dominated almost exclusively by classical historical and philological scholarship. His Metaphysics in Islamic Philosophy is the first book-length philosophical discussion of metaphysical issues in Islamic philosophy, and his last work, Philosophies of Music in Medieval Islam, is the only book on the subject. Although a Christian, he considered Islamic culture as part of his heritage and was gratified to do scholarship in that field.

At the height of interest in applied ethics in Western philosophy, he co-edited a set of commissioned essays from leading ethicists that discussed the relationship between applied and theoretical ethics and whether the philosopher is uniquely qualified to clarify that relationship. He authored several articles, and gave papers before learned societies across the U.S.A., Europe and Asia. He was a member of the American Philosophical Association.

A skilled baritone, Mr. Shehadi started his musical training in Beirut at the Institut de Musique, an affiliate of the École Normale de Paris, and received his diploma with distinction in 1948. He continued his musical education throughout his life, studying with Bernard Diamant while on a Rockefeller Fellowship at McGill University, with Jennie Tourel at Juilliard, and in Paris with Pierre Bernac, with whom he formed a particularly close bond.

Noted for his musicality and gifted interpretation, Shehadi's gave many recitals in the U.S.A., Canada, Europe and his native Lebanon. He also sang roles in Boris Godunov with the Montreal Opera under Emil Cooper, in the Eastern premiere of The Trial of Lucullus by Roger Sessions, the U.S. premiere of Handel's Imeneo and in Monteverdi's Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Chlorinde at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia with the Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra. As a soloist, he appeared with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, the Princeton Chamber Orchestra, the Interlochen Chorus and Orchestra and the Bachman Choir with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Michael Steinberg, of The Boston Globe, wrote that Shehadi had "a baritone voice of exceptional beauty."



Mr. Shehadi was also active in the promotion of musical performance. He chaired the Princeton University Concerts Committee, was President of the Friends of Music at Princeton, Vice President of the Robert Miller Fund for Music, President of the Board of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra and President of the Board of Directors of Joy In Singing, in New York City. He was also a member of the Century Association.

He is survived by his wife, neé Alison McDonald Shute, a daughter, Muna Shehadi Sill of Milwaukee, WI and a son, Charles Henry of Brooklyn, NY. His eldest son, Philip, was head of the Reuters Bureau in Algiers when he was killed in 1991.

A memorial service will be held Wednesday, March 28th at 3pm in the Princeton University Chapel.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Joy In Singing, 260 West 72nd Street, New York, N.Y. 10023, to the Friends of Music at Princeton, c/o Concert Office, Princeton University, Princeton, N.J. 08544, or to The Princeton Symphony Orchestra, P.O. Box 250, Princeton, N.J. 08542.