Scholar, humanist, and collector Joseph Birdsall Dallett died Saturday, February 6, 2021 in Auburn, New York. His death, following a short illness, occurred at the Finger Lakes Center for Living where he had been a resident since July 29, 2020. Generous, compassionate, curious, and open-minded, he will be greatly missed by his many friends, family members and colleagues.
Joseph was born May 27, 1929 in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, to Francis James Dallett and Christine Louise Newman. He spent his formative years in Wayne, Pennsylvania, where childhood interests in the natural world, music, and languages were early expressions of a lifelong drive to grasp and interpret phenomena as coherent patterns of meaning.