The department is saddened to share the news that Holmes Rolston, III passed away on February 12, 2025.  There is no way we can adequately express the impact Holmes had on his field, on CSU, and on the broader academic world. He was a singular individual leaving a monumental legacy, with tremendous significance to many of us, both personally and professionally.  

Holmes Rolston, III was University Distinguished Professor and Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus. He authored many books, including Three Big Bangs: Matter-Energy, Life, Mind (2010), Genes, Genesis and God: Values and their Origins in Natural and Human History (1999), Philosophy Gone Wild (1989), Environmental Ethics: Duties to and Values in the Natural World (1987), Science and Religion: A Critical Survey (2006), and Conserving Natural Value (1994). In addition, Rolston wrote several hundred articles and book chapters. His articles have been reprinted and anthologized widely and his books have been used as texts in many colleges and universities across the world. 

Rolston gave the Gifford Lectures, University of Edinburgh in 1997-1998 and was honored as the laureate for the 2003 Templeton Prize in Religion by Prince Philip at Buckingham Palace. He spoke as a distinguished lecturer on seven continents, and is featured in Joy A. Palmer, ed., Fifty Key Thinkers on the Environment, 2000.  Rolston was past and founding president of the International Society for Environmental Ethics, a founding editor of the journal Environmental Ethics, and a founding member of the International Society for Science and Religion. Christopher J. Preston published an intellectual biography of Rolston, Saving Creation: Nature and Faith in the Life of Holmes Rolston, III, in 2009.  More biographical details can be found on Rolston's personal CSU website.

The Rolston Library can be found in the Eddy Library, Eddy Hall rm 120, at Colorado State University. The Rolston Digital Archives can be found in the CSU Library.