Richard Wollheim was born in London in 1923 and educated at Westminster School and Balliol College, Oxford. He served in the army during the Second World War, seeing action in France and Germany.

From 1949, Wollheim taught philosophy at University College London, becoming, in 1963, Grote Professor of Mind and Logic. He retired from UCL in 1982, and from then until 1985 was Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University. Between 1985 and 2003 he was Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley, and, from 1989 until 1996, he was also Professor of Philosophy and Humanities at the University of California, Davis.

Wollheim was married twice – to Anne Powell in 1950 (dissolved 1967) and to Mary Day Lanier in 1969. He had two sons by his first wife, and a daughter by his second.

He died in November 2003

To read some of the obituaries for Richard Wollheim, please click on the relevant titles:

Guardian

San Francisco Chronicle