When Lucha Vogel passed on in the fall of 2007, she left a legacy of thought that permanently altered the course of this Institute. Raised in Chile, educated in Ohio, and committed to building a more ethical world, she understood that the most important element of an ethical mindset was moral courage.

Her father-in-law, Hans Vogel, exemplified that trait as the little-known chairman of the Social Democratic Party in Germany. Founded in 1875, the SPD stood up against Hitler, was nearly shattered by the Nazis, and yet survived to become the party of Willy Brandt, Helmut Schmidt, and Gerhard Schöder.

Vogel’s courage during years of exile in Prague, Paris, and London was a beacon to Lucha. She donated his papers—carefully organized by her late husband, Ernie Vogel—to Principia College. And she made such a winning case for the importance of moral courage that we began the research that led to the publication in 2005 of our most recent book, Moral Courage, and to the creation of our Center for Moral Courage.

It is rare that the genesis of a book can be traced to its roots. In this case, those roots lie in the example of a single courageous individual, whose story we briefly recount in the pages of our book. Without him, Germany would not be what it is today. And without his daughter-in-law’s insistence that moral courage is crucial to an ethical life, and her willingness to provide key funding for our work, the Institute would not be what it is today. Lucha made that indelible connection for us, and the world continues to benefit from her remarkable life.