Illinois Wesleyan University


Minor Myers Dies At 60
Began Academic Career At Connecticut College

(from The Day, New London, Conn.)

Bloomington, Ill. — Minor Myers Jr., president of Illinois Wesleyan University, died Tuesday in Bloomington. He was 60.

Mr. Myers launched his academic career in 1968 as an instructor in government at Connecticut College in New London, where he achieved the rank of full professor and was department chairman of government from 1978-81.

Mr. Myers was president of the Lyman Allyn Museum Fund from 1982 to 1984 and chairman of the museum's board of directors from 1976-81 and 1982-84. He was a member of the New London County Historical Society's advisory board and editor of the Connecticut College Library Bulletin from 1974-78. He selected and priced rare books for the college's annual book sale.

In 1984, Mr. Myers was named provost and dean of faculty at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, N.Y., where he served for five years before becoming Illinois Wesleyan's president in 1989.

Mr. Myers had informed the Illinois Wesleyan community in February that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer. He had undergone treatment at both Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and in Bloomington.

Mr. Myers became the 17th president of Illinois Wesleyan in 1989. During his 14-year tenure, the university increased its student enrollment, selectivity, and academic profile; raised $137 million in a capital campaign; and completed $115 million of renovation and construction.

Born in Akron, Ohio, Mr. Myers earned a bachelor's degree in 1964 from Carleton College in Northfield, Minn. He went on to Princeton University, where he was awarded the master's of arts (1967) and doctor of philosophy (1972) degrees in politics and political philosophy.

Mr. Myers was the author or co-author of eight books, including The Insignia of the Society of the Cincinnati (1998) and A Documentary History of American Interiors from the Colonial Era to 1915 (1980).

1994, Mr. Myers' original musical play, The College Inn Revisited, which focused on the 1920's jazz movement in Chicago and the role that city played as a launching ground for Broadway theatre in New York, was performed at the Chicago Historical Society.

Myers is survived by his wife, Ellen, and their two sons, Minor III, and Joffre.

A private service for the family will be held in Copley, Ohio, at a date to be determined. A commemoration of Mr. Myers' life will be held at the Shirk Center on Monday, Aug. 25, at 1 p.m. The family requests that memorials be made to the Minor Myers Honors Collection at The Ames Library or to Mayo Clinic.

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