Reverend Doctor Gene Reeves, respected Buddhist scholar and teacher, and Unitarian Universalist minister, died on Wednesday, Patheos blogger James Ford has reported. He is survived by his wife Yayoi Reeves and two daughters.
Reeves said of himself: “I am . . . a professional philosopher and think of myself, to some degree, as a philosopher. Being a philosopher is part of my identity. And it seems to me, it is part of my identity whether I choose it or not. It’s true, of course, that I originally made a choice to study philosophy and, in that sense, to become a philosopher. But since then, it has been part of my identity, part of my being—whether I like it or not. In one sense it is a chosen identity; in another it is not.” (Dharma World Magazine)
Born and raised in a small industrial town in New Hampshire, Reeves graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a psychology degree, and then pursued a degree in theology at Boston University, subsequently gaining a PhD in philosophy from Emory University.