Beatrice Institute

Family and friends are welcome tomorrow, Thursday, May 7, from 2-4 & 6-8 and Friday, May 8th from 2-4 & 6-8 at WILLIAM SLATER II FUNERAL SERVICE, 1650 Greentree Rd., Scott Twp., 15220 (412-563-2800).

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Saturday, May 9th, 2026, at 11:30 AM at Saint Bernard Roman Catholic Church, 311 Washington Road, Mount Lebanon, PA 15216. EVERYONE PLEASE MEET AT CHURCH. Burial will follow in Resurrection Catholic Cemetery.

Brent Dean Robbins Obituary April 28, 2026 - Slater Funeral Homes View Brent Dean Robbins's obituary, send flowers, find service dates, and sign the guestbook.

Last week, long-time Faculty Fellow Brent Robbins passed away after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Brent's death will be felt across the Institute, but most acutely by those of us who counted him a friend.

Brent played a vital role in the development of our community. He mentored students and taught in our undergraduate seminar sequence; he gave lectures to the public and at our Faculty Convivia; he was on our podcast, sat on salon panels, and attended our Welcome Back BBQs with his family.

Most importantly, he brought friendship to our little society of researchers and learners.

For Brent, the life of the mind was not a diversion or an opportunity to dominate the world or a lever for social mobility; for him, ideas were sustenance. He had the estimable virtue of being able to take whoever he was talking to—undergraduate or professor—along his intellectual path, and I was blessed to have been a part of many of those sojourns.

Requiescat in pace.

James DeMasi
Executive Director

Brent Dean Robbins Obituary April 28, 2026 - Slater Funeral Homes View Brent Dean Robbins's obituary, send flowers, find service dates, and sign the guestbook.

Dr. Elise Lonich Ryan for our Brothers Karamazov / problem of evil seminar.

What a way to end spring BICS studies 🤩📕🥞