Condolences: Professor Emeritus Steffen Stelzer

January 6, 2026

Dear AUC Community,

I am saddened to share with you that Professor Emeritus Dr. Steffen Stelzer passed away. Prior to his retirement in 2021, professor Stelzer devoted over 40 years of his life to serving AUC and its students.

He first joined the University as an assistant professor in 1978, was tenured in 1982, and was promoted to full professor in 1992. He was instrumental in establishing the philosophy department at the University. During his years at AUC, Stelzer served as department chair as well as interim dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. His service to the University was recognized in 2010 when he received the President’s Distinguished Service Award.

During his many years at AUC, professor Stelzer acquired a reputation for the excellence of his teaching. In the summer of 2006, he thus became one of the first recipients of AUC’s Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award; one of the students who recommended him for the award famously referred to him as a “lighthouse on campus”.

Professor Stelzer's monograph, Der Zug der Zeit: Nietzsches Versuch der Philosophie, was published in Germany in 1979. He was a well-known and influential scholar of Islamic philosophy and sufism, contributing chapters to volumes on these topics published by Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press and other top-tier publishers.

Professor Stelzer was married to Sanaa Makhlouf, senior instructor II in the Department of Rhetoric and Composition, who recently retired. The funeral service was held earlier today. Condolence emails may be sent to his wife at: sanaly@aucegypt.edu.

We will share additional information regarding condolence visits as we receive them.

Sincerely,

Ehab Abdel-Rahman
Provost