Scholar, leader mourned

Reprinted courtesy of The Pantagraph, Wednesday, July 23, 2003

By Kelly Josephsen

Pantagraph staff

BLOOMINGTON -- Minor Myers Jr., praised as a renaissance man who led Illinois Wesleyan University from a small regional college to one of the top liberal arts schools in the country, died Tuesday of lung cancer. He was 60.

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

"Minor brought vision to the college," said Dean of Students Jim Matthews, who has been at IWU 17 years.

"When he came 14 years ago, we were a strong regional university," Matthews said. "As soon as he set foot on campus, he already saw us as a leading national liberal arts college."

U.S. News and World Report ranked IWU in September as one of the top 50 schools in the nation, putting it in the top tier of liberal arts colleges.

"Part of his genius was to persuade us that was where we were heading," Matthews said.

Board of Trustees President Craig Hart said Myers' death is an "enormous loss."

"In countless ways, Minor Myers had become the heart and soul of Illinois Wesleyan," Hart said. "He had the highest aspirations for this university, and he pushed all of us to join in his vision."

Illinois State University Interim President Al Bowman said the loss extends beyond IWU.

"Higher education has lost a great scholar and teacher, and our community has lost a wonderful person," Bowman said.

Myers became IWU's 17th president in July 1989. Those who worked with him in various capacities over those years remember a renaissance man who was full of life and curiosity.

"He had a seemingly vital interest in every individual," said Acting Dean of Faculty Tom Griffiths, who is in his 22nd year at IWU.

"Everyone felt they had a personal relationship with him," Griffiths said. "He always had time for people. He was always interested in where they've been and where they were going."

Colleagues said those traits made Myers the perfect man to lead a school devoted to giving young people a solid liberal arts foundation.

"Minor was passionate about the value of a liberal arts education," Acting President Janet McNew said. "He was the very model of a liberally educated person whose interests ranged far and wide and who cherished learning as an end in itself."

Myers wrote eight books and numerous articles on topics ranging from the history of Cincinnati to colonial furniture to baseball in upper New York state. In 1994, he wrote an original musical, "The College Inn Revisited," which reflects his interest in music history.

Trustee Gary Egbers said Myers' fascination with far-reaching subjects was genuine.

"He was totally unbiased about anything. But it was more than that -- he respected diversity. It could have been athletic skill or skill in car mechanics," Egbers said. "He had incredible respect for individual talents."

Myers gained a lot of knowledge through his boundless energy, said Donna Hartweg, director of the school of nursing and a 25-year IWU veteran. "He would just pop into your office because he had something on his mind -- it was always racing."

Students also cherished Myers, Matthews said. "He always had time for them."

In Myers' tenure, IWU opened the Shirk Center, Ames Library, and Hansen Student Center.

Hartweg said those buildings -- especially Ames -- are physical tributes to Myers.

"It's a tribute not only in that it's a library filled with knowledge, but that it is such a beautiful place," Hartweg said. "It says a lot about the beauty he saw in knowledge, and it's a very appropriate memorial to him."

But colleagues agreed that buildings, better student SAT averages and higher U.S. News and World Report rankings can't by themselves define Myers' legacy.

"Those are very impressive things," Griffiths said. "But I suspect (his legacy) was the tone he set -- that this can be a great institution. He never stopped talking about that."