University of Virginia Library

ALBERT LEFEVRE

The Lefevre Residence House bears the
name of Albert Lefevre, who in his twenty-three
years (1905 to 1928) as Corcoran
Professor of Philosophy won distinction as
an eloquent lecturer and a charming personality.
He was born in Baltimore on the
fourth of October 1873, the son of the Rev.
Jacob A. Lefevre, one of the leaders of the
Presbyterian Church. He had three elder
brothers who made their mark in the educational
field: George Lefevre, Professor
of Zoology at the University of Missouri,
Arthur Lefevre, who was Editor of the
Texas School Journal, and Walter Lefevre,
Professor of Philosophy at the University
of Texas. Albert Lefevre matriculated at
the University of Texas, and there received
his B.A. and M.A. degrees. He then spent
a year at Johns Hopkins, but transferred to
Cornell, where he gained his Ph.D. After
two years of study at the University of
Berlin, he returned to Cornell, first as
Instructor and then as Assistant Professor

of Philosophy. In 1903 he was elected Professor
of Philosophy at Tulane University,
where Edwin Anderson Alderman was
President. Between President and Professor
there was formed a bond of admiration and
friendship, and when in 1904 Alderman
became President of the University of Virginia,
Lefevre followed him to Charlottesville
the next year.

At the University of Virginia Professor
Lefevre became an institution in himself.
As a teacher, he infused the problems of
philosophy with a clarifying insight that
charmed his student listeners. As an author,
he produced such books as "The Ethical
System of Bishop Butler" and "The Relation
Between Ethical System and Epistemology";
he translated Paulsen's "Immanuel
Kant"; and he was Associate Editor
of The Philosophical Review and of The
Virginia Quarterly Review. He was a member
of the Executive Committee of the
General Athletic Association, and he was
co-organizer, with Professor Lambeth, of
the Southern Conference. He possessed a

genius for friendship, sympathy, and good
will, which won for him a notable degree
of admiration and affection.

An unhappy event that occurred in 1925
deepened the regard in which he was held.
There was an accident to the car in which
he was driving to Richmond with two associates
from the University, and in the
investigation of the accident, a flask was
found which he was as a favor returning
from a friend to a friend, by whom it had
inadvertently been left behind. He was
quite unaware that it was partly filled. Professor
Lefevre was therefore fined under
the Volstead Act for this unintentional
transportation of liquor. Feeling deeply
the odium caused to the University, he assumed
all responsibility, frankly admitting
that he was himself an occasional drinker,
and tendered his resignation to the Board
of Visitors. That Board refused to accept
the resignation, but attached a mild period
of probation, which Professor Lefevre faithfully
observed.

Thereafter "The Little Doc," as he was

familiarly called, continued his quiet participation
in teaching and university affairs.
His bachelor quarters in the Mallet
House (torn down in 1929 when Monroe
Hall was erected) was a haven for his many
friends, until he suddenly passed away from
a cardiac hemorrhage on 18 December
1928. The funeral services were impressive.
He was buried in the University
Cemetery.