On behalf of the Haas Association and the Centre for Aesthetics, Religion, and Contemporary Culture, it is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Professor Alois Maria Haas on Sunday 12th, 2025.

Professor Amador Vega's condolences

Dear colleagues,

With deep sadness, we announce the passing of Professor Alois Maria Haas this past Sunday, January 12, 2025, in his hometown of Zurich. Alois M. Haas (1934–2025), a prominent figure in medieval German studies and a scholar of Western philosophy and spirituality, is especially well-known among us for the donation of his personal library to UPF (40,000 volumes, now fully cataloged), which constitutes a privileged research resource for the Humanities. In 2009, in recognition of his intellectual achievements and extraordinary generosity, our university awarded him an honorary doctorate.

As president of the Friends of the Haas Library Association and coordinator of the Research Group on the Poetics of Knowledge that bears his name, despite the immeasurable loss of a great intellectual and friend, I feel satisfaction in knowing that we continue to uphold his material and spiritual legacy within our institution. Just a few months ago, we finalized the donation of the remainder of his private collection (15,000 volumes), which will arrive at UPF throughout February. With his entire library now in our care, we can say that his wish has been fulfilled. For now, it is time to respect the mourning period, and during this academic year, we will announce the tribute events that, with the support of the Department of Humanities, the Office of the Vice-Rector for Culture, and the UPF Library, we hope to organize.

Amador Vega

Other homages and obituaries

Professor Haas' family has published an obituary in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung. In the same newspaper, Thomas Ribi has written an homage to Haas, and Adrian Meyer an article. Thomas Ribi and Benedict Neff interviewed Haas on November, 2023.
The University of Zürich has published a long obituary and homage.
The Pompeu Fabra University has published an homage focused on the honorary doctorate of 2009.
Christian Geyer-Hindemith has published a tribute article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. On the occasion of Professor Haas's 90th birthday, the same newspaper dedicated a biographical article to him, written by Oliver Jungen.
Victoria Cirlot has published a tribute article in La Vanguardia.
Lluís Simon has written an obituary for El Punt-Avui.
Jan-Heiner Tück has written a homage article for the international Catholic newspaper Communio. The University of Wien, where Tück teaches, has republished it.
Wolfgang Holz has published a homage, with statements by Thomas Binotto and Hildegard Keller, for the Swiss Katholisches medienzentrum.
The Swiss ch-cultura site has published a homage and gathered interviews and other interesting links about Professor Haas.
The Swiss platform Reformierte Medien has published an obituary.

Photographed by Yvonne Böhler