John D. Wilson
A memorial service was held for former Washington and Lee President John Delane Wilson on Saturday, March 16, in Lee Chapel.
Wilson, the president who led W&L during its transition to coeducation, died on March 2 in Lexington. He was 81.
Wilson served as president from 1983 to 1995. In addition to the University's historic decision to become a fully coeducational institution in 1984, Wilson's tenure saw the endowment double, the successful execution of a $147 million capital campaign, the renovation of 15 fraternity houses in what was known as the Fraternity Renaissance, and the opening of the Lenfest Center for the Performing Arts.
"John Wilson's presidency marked a genuine milestone in the history of the institution," said W&L President Kenneth P. Ruscio, who held a number of positions at W&L during Wilson's tenure. "He laid the groundwork for so many of the important things that we have accomplished and will continue to accomplish in years to come."
• Watch a slideshow of images from President Wilson's career
• Read a 1994 interview with President Wilson from the W&L Alumni Magazine (pdf)
A native of Lapeer, Mich., Wilson was a football star at Michigan State, playing defensive back for the Spartan teams that won the national championship in 1951 and 1952. He played in the North-South postseason football game in 1952. He was also a member of the Academic All-American football team and was Michigan State's first Rhodes Scholar.
Reflecting on those accomplishments in 2001, when he was inducted into the Michigan State Athletics Hall of Fame, Wilson said: "It was easier in those days to balance academics with athletics. Big-time sports didn't demand so much of you. We had a nine-game season and stopped around Thanksgiving. Then we wouldn't see each other until spring practice. We became students again."
In 1955, he earned an M.A. in English literature from Exeter College, Oxford University. Wilson served from 1956 to 1958 in the U.S. Air Force as an intelligence officer with the Strategic Air Command.
He served as assistant to the vice president of academic affairs at Michigan State for a year before spending four years, 1959 to 1963, as assistant to the president at the State University of New York. He then returned to Michigan State to help lead the Honors College. In 1965, Wilson received his Ph.D. in English literature and then taught Shakespeare and Elizabethan literature at Michigan State as an assistant professor of English.
In 1968, Wilson became president of Wells College, a private liberal arts college for women in Aurora, N.Y. He served there until 1975, when Virginia Tech appointed him that institution's first provost and executive vice president.
On Sept. 1, 1982, W&L elected Wilson as president. He took office on Jan. 17, 1983, and was inaugurated on May 19, 1983. In a 1994 article in W&L: The Washington and Lee University Magazine, Wilson recalled that he knew little about Washington and Lee, except its reputation, when he was invited to interview for the position. He based his acceptance of the University's offer largely on his desire to focus on undergraduate education.
"I had a fine and satisfying career at Virginia Tech and I have much respect for research and advanced work," he said. "But I discovered that my heart really was in those four undergraduate years."
In February 1984, the W&L Board of Trustees launched a comprehensive study of coeducation. Recalling that often-heated debate, Wilson said in the 1994 alumni magazine story that while he knew there were emotional positions, "we take an oath when we become a member of this Board and that is that we will act in the interests of the institution 'without fear or favor.' I had a strong Board, of course, and its members took that oath seriously."
While the decision and implementation of coeducation was the pivotal moment in his presidency, Wilson also presided over a number of other key advances, including the endowment growth and the continued development of the campus. On The Shoulders of Giants, a $127 million capital campaign, was launched in 1990. At its completion in 1995, it had raised $147 million.
Funds raised through that campaign allowed the construction of the Watson Pavilion and the Duchossois Tennis Center and the transformation of Parmly and Howe Halls into the Science Center. The bulk of the money supported student aid and expanded computer support and academic programs. In addition, the Lenfest Center for Performing Arts was dedicated in May 1991, and the University undertook the Fraternity Renaissance program to renovate the fraternity houses and strengthen the Greek system.
In 2006, the John and Anne Wilson Hall opened at Washington and Lee. The addition to the Lenfest Center is headquarters for the University’s departments of art and art history and music. Longtime W&L benefactors Marguerite and Gerry Lenfest ’53, ’55L gave a major gift to name the building in the Wilsons’ honor.
Wilson was a familiar figure at athletic events as well as theater and music performances. In discussing the construction of the Lenfest Center and its importance to the arts at W&L, Wilson said that "our physical plant and our curriculum would mean nothing without our students. I love being with them. It's a pleasure to attend games, lectures, concerts."
Wilson received numerous honors and awards, including a 1984 Ring-tum Phi Award from the student newspaper for outstanding service for “demonstrating the courage to force the university to reexamine itself, primarily with regard to the current coeducation study.” He was inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa, the national honorary leadership society founded at W&L, in 1983.
In 1987, he received the Duffy Daugherty Award from Michigan State for his athletic career there. In 1989, he was elected to the GTE Academic All-America Hall of Fame, also for his college athletic career. W&L awarded him an honorary doctorate of letters in 1996. In 2000, he received Virginia Tech’s Ruffner Medal, its highest honor, for service and dedication to Virginia Tech. President Charles Steger wrote on that occasion, “Virginia Tech would not be the comprehensive university that is today had it not been for John Wilson’s vision and leadership in setting the intellectual agenda of the university as its first provost.” In 2007, he received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Lapeer (Mich.) Community Schools.
Wilson belonged to Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Alpha Theta, the Association of American Rhodes Scholars and the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges. He served on the boards of the Virginia Tech Library Systems, the Roanoke Electric Steel Corp., Hollins College and Mercersburg (Pa.) Academy. He was chairman of the board of the Virginia Foundation for Humanities and Public Policy.
He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Anne Yeomans Wilson; their four children, Stephen, of Richmond, Anthony, of Blacksburg, Patrick, of Atlanta, and Sara, of Charlottesville; nine grandchildren; two sisters; and two brothers.
- Roanoke Times
- Lansing Star Journal
- Associated Press/Washington Post
- "A Scholar and a Gentleman:" Roanoke Times Editorial
- Flint (Mich.) Journal
News Contact:
Jeffery G. Hanna
Executive Director of Communications and Public Affairs
jhanna@wlu.edu
(540) 458-8459
This wonderful, congenial, so intelligent man had so much influence on my life and career. I am so saddened by his death, but remain so grateful for his advice, help, and inspiration. I'm teary-eyed today and will remain so. This institution is what it now is thanks to his efforts. He was a major force behind co-education, raised the standards (and salaries) of faculty and staff, and in so many ways made W & L a better place. He arrived in the middle of my career here and made me more than content to spend the rest of my active life on the faculty. What a wonderful man! Fred Schwab
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President Wilson spoke at my W&L graduation ceremony. I will never forget the day nor his speech. What a wonderful man. My deepest sympathy is felt for his family.
President Wilson's leadership during a time of such remarkable transition for the University was extraordinary. Not only did he navigate tremendous change, but he also connected with students on a very personal level, reminding us that we all had something unique to offer. He was a blessing to those whose lives he touched, and hIs legacy will be far reaching.
President Wilson contributed to W&L many of the things that made my years there so enriching and so wonderful. He did much to make a great place greater, and he has crafted a legacy that shall stay deep within the institution–and those who hail from it.
John was a great president and accepted our 25th class gift (it endows visitng performances at the Lenfest Center). I will remember him as a friend to whomever he encountered. the epitome of a Washington and Lee gentleman. Joe Burkart ’64
When I think about President Wilson’s introduction of coeducation and the many other changes he implemented I think of the saying “What is now proved was once only imagined”. It took courage, vision and resilience to change to move W&L in the direction that has led Washington and Lee University to its laudable present. It would have been so much easier and so very wrong to have rested on the status quo.
President Wilson had the leadership to preserve the best of W&Ls traditions and evolve them to keep pace with the changing realities of his time and the future. Washington and Lee University was lucky to have had such a leader.
A kind and gracious gentleman, struck from the finest metal….a privilege to have known him,even if only briefly….
During my tenure at W&L, I had a classical music program on WLUR Sunday mornings. I quickly learned that President Wilson was an inexhaustible aficionado of Gustav Mahler, much like myself. While remonstrated not to overplay any particular composer, I nevertheless pushed the envelope a bit in this regard, and enjoyed the pleasure I was able to provide him – evidenced by the small notes he would occasionally send my way.
The John Wilson I came to know as a student was President of the University (in capital letters, of course) only after the fact that he was a gentleman scholar genuinely interested in the students entrusted to him and the institution for which he was responsible – whether a kind word after an accomplishment or an emphatic yet compassionate remonstration when needed.
He is truly one of the giants upon whose shoulders I stand, and I suspect that this is true for any of W&L's students who got to know him.
My sincere condolences to Anne Wilson and their children.
In the 1990s, I served on Wilson's "Coeducation Committee"–a small group of faculty and students appointed to examine the evolution of the university in its first eight years of co-education and recommend any further improvements to the school. Out of that came the plans for the new and improved student center, increased faculty salaries and much more. I loved getting to know him and found his leadership admirable, genuine and thoughtful. My heart goes to Anne Wilson and their family.
I still have President Wilson's very kind smiling face in my mind close and clear! When I was just a fresh graduate serving my Alma Mater, Chung Chi College, CUHK, President Wilson came to Hong Kong to visit. I did not have a chance to meet him in person when I was exchanging at W&L, but the few days' encounter in Hong Kong left me a strong impression and memorable moments!
I was also very touched by his decisive commitment to coeducation. I could still feel something when I was studying at W&L in 1989, and so can imagine how difficult that move could be! Salute to a leader that has a vision and worked through with that!
Amy Cheng
Exchange student 1989/90
I can still remember his opening remarks to our parents during the On the Shoulder of Giants campaign, "being a college president is the only job where they let you live in a mansion so you can beg for a living." I appreciate his consistent support of the music department and our quartet, always taking the time to attend concerts and stopping to speak once when we were practicing on the colonnade. He wasn't as big a fan our our Spectator magazine but appreciated the student effort enough to recognize it during a graduation speech. He was a true gentleman and leader. May our thoughts and prayers be with his family and may he rest in peace with recognition for a job well done.
John Wilson was the embodiment of the liberal arts ideal and his eloquence in expressing its values brought a unique beauty and clarity to their purpose. The Washington and Lee community that had the privilege to engage in John’s on-going “conversation” will long cherish its many lessons just as we will aspire to fulfill his legacy of excellence.
John Wilson was the President when I was hired in 1991. He was a very fine man and always spoke the truth. When he told you something there was never a question about how he felt. I admired him, respected him, and found him to be the heart of this university. I also enjoyed playing golf with him. He was a good player with a great sense of humor that many may not have seen. He will be missed by many other good people. God bless you John Wilson. Thank you for your service to Washington and Lee.
Shortly after the advent of coeducation, Pres. Wilson was in New Orleans for an alumni dinner. I congratulated him on the decision and his leadership in a very difficult situation. He looked genuinely shocked, asked why I felt as I did and I explained (a discussion for another time). His response was to profusely thank me for understanding, and for sharing my thoughts, as he hugged me!
My thoughts and prayers go to his family and our whole community.
It is with great sadness that I learn that the Washington and Lee community has suffered a grievous loss in the death of John Wilson. Much of W&L’s preeminence today results directly from his vision and contributions.
By quirk of history it fell to him to navigate Washington and Lee through the turbulent and sometimes acrimonious waters of the coeducation debate in the mid-eighties. Looking back three decades it is almost baffling to a contemporary mind to understand the controversy or opposition to coeducation from some alumni and yet it is worth recalling that, at the time, ivy-league and other peer schools had just recently gone coeducational and in so doing encountered stiff and bitter opposition from some alumni. For those W&L alumni I am convinced their opposition stemmed from a genuine love of W&L and memories of W&L as a perfect place not to be changed. But memories evoke a vision of a past world frozen in time.
In the meantime the external world in which W&L existed had changed forever and W&L’s reputation for academic excellence was teetering in the balance. Hard as it is to believe today but, in the early and mid-1980s, W&L’s future was greatly threatened by an erosion of quality primarily from difficulty in recruiting quality freshman. With the right decisions W&L could right itself, excel, and reach its full potential; with the wrong decisions it could slide into mediocrity and obscurity. This was the situation facing John Wilson shortly after assuming the presidency of Washington and Lee in the early eighties.
At the time I served on the Alumni board and came to know John Wilson quite well. In this capacity I was made privy of W&L’s recruiting and other problems not widely known among the general alumni and could not publicly be made so without doing irreparable damage to W&L's reputation and freshman recruiting efforts.
In his low key and modest manner, with steadfastness of purpose and precision of mind, and always with the best interests of Washington and Lee in mind, John Wilson had the moral toughness of fiber to endure obstacles and abuse without being unduly discouraged or wearied. His leadership and contributions were enormous and I believe will only be fully recognized in years to come. Without John Wilson W&L would not enjoy its reputation of excellence today. To him, Washington and Lee owes a deep debt of gratitude.
He was a worthy man and I am honored to have known him and called him my friend.
John Wilson is the finest exemplar of what an administrator in higher education should be. I met him shortly after he became Provost at Virginia Tech in 1975 and was privileged to know him well enough to invite him and his lovely wife to dinner at our home, an evening I will always cherish and never forget. He was that rarest combination of an exceptionally skilled administrator whose memos were a joy to read and whose integrity and character and leadership ability were never in question. Please extend my condolences to his wife and family.