Hugo Adam Bedau (September 23, 1926 – August 13, 2012)[1] was the Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, at Tufts University, and is best known for his work on capital punishment.
"[2] Bedau received his undergraduate education at the naval training program at USC and at the University of Redlands, where he graduated in 1949.
[4] Bedau was a founding member of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty,[5] and served many years on its board of directors, including several as chairman.
On the occasion of Bedau's retirement, Norman Daniels said of The Death Penalty in America: "It is the premier example in this century of the systematic application of academic philosophical skills to a practical issue, and the flood of work in practical ethics that has followed can rightfully cite Hugo's work as its starting point.
His first marriage to Jan Mastin, by whom he had four children, including the philosopher Mark Bedau, ended in divorce.