Jacob Needleman

Jacob Needleman
Needleman in 2018
Born	(1934-10-06)October 6, 1934 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	November 28, 2022(2022-11-28) (aged 88) Oakland, California, U.S.
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Harvard University Yale University University of Freiburg, Germany
Occupation	Professor of philosophy
Spouse	Gail Needleman
Website	jacobneedleman.com

Jacob Needleman (October 6, 1934 – November 28, 2022) was an American philosopher, author, and religious scholar.

Needleman was Jewish^[1][2] and was educated at Harvard University, Yale University, and the University of Freiburg, Germany.^[3] He was deeply involved in the Gurdjieff Work and the Gurdjieff Foundation of San Francisco.^[4] He was a Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Religion at San Francisco State University^[5][6] and is said to have "popularized the term 'new religious movements'."^[7] He was a former visiting professor at the Duxx Graduate School of Business Leadership in Monterrey, Mexico, and former director of the Center for the study of New Religions at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. He has also served as a research associate at the Rockefeler Institute for Medical Research, a research fellow at Union Theological Seminary, Adjunct Professor of Medical Ethics at the University of California Medical School and guest Professor of Religious Studies at the Sorbonne University, Paris (1992).^[8] Needleman was honored by the Open Center in New York City in 2006.^[9][10] Needleman also narrated classical religious texts in audiobook format, including the Taoist Tao Te Ching and the Hindu Bhagavad Gita.