Minor Myers Jr. *72

Minor Myers died of lung cancer July 22, 2003, in Bloomington, Ill. He was 60.

President of Illinois Wesleyan U. at his death, Myers led that institution through 14 years of impressive growth and achievement.

Myers was a champion and model of the liberal arts education. Born in Akron, Ohio, he received a BA in 1964 from Carleton College. At Princeton, he studied politics and political philosophy, earning an MA in 1967 and PhD in 1972. Myers taught government for many years, and also developed expertise in furniture, musical instruments, and other material cultures of colonial America and revolutionary France. Subsequently he turned his attention to the study of multi-

talented individuals, nearly completing a book on that subject. Myers himself was a polymath. In addition to penning wide-ranging books and essays, he played piano and harpsichord, and wrote an original musical play set in the 1920s Chicago jazz scene.

The Graduate School owes Myers a particular debt, not only for his intellectual example, but for his work on the first edition of the History of the Graduate School.

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

The Graduate School