Though he preferred, albeit jokingly, the title “grandfather,” he is remembered as the “father” of secular humanism.
Preferences of generational titles aside, he was an important public intellectual and he is now dead. And I think the atheism/theism dialogue at large will suffer from the loss.
Before his death on October 20, 2012, Paul Kurtz served most recently as Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Kurtz is the author of many works including the influential document the Humanist Manifesto II. He also founded Prometheus Books and multiple organizations promoting secular thought: Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, the Council for Secular Humanism, and the Center for Inquiry.
Richard Dawkins described him on Twitter as, “A great, if lately troubled, figure in the skeptic and secular humanist world.” Why does Dawkins call him troubled? It is likely because of the criticism Kurtz received for resigning in 2010 from the very organizations he founded (Prometheus Books excluded) due to his concern over the tone that the new atheists were taking. R. Joseph Hoffmann, a friend and colleague of Kurtz, describes the chasm from Kurtz’s vision for humanism verses the new atheist campaign:
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