Sheldon Hackney, Distinguished Vanderbilt NROTC Grad, RIP

From the LA Times we learn the sad news of the passing of one of our distinguished alumni:

Sheldon Hackney dies at 79; educator chaired endowment for humanities

Sheldon Hackney had served as president of Tulane and Penn universities before President Clinton nominated him to lead the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Times wire services

6:39 PM PDT, September 14, 2013

Sheldon Hackney, an educator and historian who served as president of Tulane University and the University of Pennsylvania before becoming chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, has died. He was 79.

Hackney died Thursday at his home on Martha's Vineyard of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, officials from Penn and Tulane confirmed.

He was president of Tulane from 1975 to 1980 and president of Penn from 1981 to 1993, when he was nominated by President Clinton to serve as chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
As president of Penn, Hackney helped lead the school through a financial turnaround that quadrupled its endowment. He also boosted the university's academic standing.

He served as chairman of the endowment until 1997, then returned to Penn as a history professor until his retirement in 2010.
Born in Birmingham, Ala., on Dec. 5, 1933, Hackney received a bachelor's degree from Vanderbilt University on a Navy ROTC scholarship in 1955. He served in the Navy from 1956 to 1959 and attended the Naval Academy from 1959 to 1961.
Hackney earned a master's degree and a doctorate in American history from Yale, where he was provost from 1972 to 1975.
A scholar of Southern history, Hackney continued to teach during his tenure as university president.
Hackney is survived by his wife of 56 years, Lucy Durr Hackney; a son, a daughter, three brothers and eight grandchildren.