A ROBUST INTELLECTUAL

"More than any other person at least since the Second World War, John Sloan Dickey embodied Dartmouth's institutional purpose, its culture, its history, its spirit."

Every member of the dartmouth family is saddened at the death of John Sloan Dickey '29. We feel fortunate that he was with us for such a long and constructive life, including a quarter-century of service as Dartmouth's 12th president. More than any other person at least since the Second World War, John Sloan Dickey embodied Dartmouth's institutional purpose, its culture, its history, its spirit. He gave his College his unconditional love, and he was repaid in kind by a generation of Dartmouth students and alumni.

He was a model of integrity and contagious confidence; a pillar of reason and wisdom; an exemplar of civility and generosity of spirit. Whether in a woodsman's shirt or a three-piece suit, President Dickey was always himself, always the robust intellectual. With ease and grace he balanced a wry sense of humor with a gentlemanly sense of decorum. Who else would write, in the honorary degree citation for President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953, "Mr. President, in 1952 you were a relatively innocent bystander at a new discovery of awesome portent for American political geography, establishing that the high road from Texas via Kansas to Washington runs plumb through New Hampshire."

In the autumn of 1945, moments after being installed as president of Dartmouth College, John Dickey said, "I do pray God, and ask each man's help, that my all shall never be less than the cause of Dartmouth, under whatever circumstances or chance, shall require."

How well we know that his prayer was answered fully, for in his years as president, John Sloan Dickey advanced "the cause of Dartmouth" in innumerable and inestimable ways.

One of his greatest contributions to what he called "this coral reef of institutional character" was the distinguished faculty he brought to this place, men of stature and intellect, men who strove both to expand understanding and to convey it to their students. Some of President Dickey's appointees are now senior members of our faculty. As we survey the daunting task of replacing these scholars in the years immediately ahead, we realize with keen awareness just how great their contribution and President Dickey's have been to this College.

President Dickey led the College through its first two major capital campaigns. He leaves behind him buildings and facilities that will serve Dartmouth for generations to come. Most notable, of course, is the center for the creative and performing arts named for his predecessor.

From a career in the State Department President Dickey brought to Dartmouth an international perspective, the importance of which is even more evident today than it was in 1945. The map of the world that forms the background in President Dickey's portrait, which hangs in the president's office, as well as the Dickey Endowment for International Understanding, symbolizes his commitment to infusing a global perspective into Dartmouth's every endeavor.

Today the College continues to share the four "abiding concerns" that President Dickey enumerated: intellectual competence, conscience, commitment, and comprehensive awareness.

He spoke repeatedly of personal responsibility and service to others. He spoke of the connection between the individual and the communities in which we live, reminding us that an institution—whether it be our College or our nation—inevitably derives its character from the character of its members. And still today, we could take no better watchword than President Dickey's annual exhortation to students at convocation: "Your business here is learning."

President Dickey's influence on Dartmouth lives on, even as he remains a source of personal inspiration for thousands of Dartmouth men who knew him.

And so I recall now, with them, the closing line of every one of his valedictory addresses until his very last Commencement. President Dickey would conclude his remarks to the graduating seniors by saying, "And now the word is 'so long,' because in the Dartmouth fellowship there is no parting."