Proceedings of the Board of Regents (1963-1966)

1208

JANUARY MEETING, 1966

The Regents of the University, who now appoint him Professor Emeritus of
Spanish-American History and Literature, express to this humane and greatly
gifted scholar their gratitude alike for the distinguished services he has rendered
to this institution and for the honor he has brought upon its name. And they most
cordially invite him to partake of the perquisites of his new rank.
D. W. McCready: Donald W. McCready, Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering,
Sixt Foure was given permission to retire on February 25, 1966, his sixty-fourth
birthday, with the title of Associate Professor Emeritus of Chemical
Engineering.
IN. B. Pierce: Walter B. Pierce, Assistant Professor of Foundry Practice, DepartTo Retire at
End of Winter ment of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, was given permission
Term, 1966, to retire at the end of the winter term, 1966, at age sixty-two, with the
title Assistant Professor Emeritus of Foundry Practice.
D. V. Baxter: The Secretary reported with regret the death on December 31, 1965,
of Dow Vawter Baxter, Professor of Forest Pathology. The following
memoir was adopted:
The many friends of Dow Vawter Baxter, including notably his devoted students
and former students, are mourning his sudden death on New Year's eve, a few
weeks before his sixty-eighth birthday, in Phoenix, Arizona. His heart apparently
failed him after the exertion of travel.
Professor Baxter earned three degrees at this University, taught for two years
at The University of Wisconsin, and then returned permanently to Ann Arbor to
join the Department, about to become the School, of Forestry and Conservation.
This was his fortieth consecutive year on its staff. He held also a professorship in
the Department of Botany.
During his career here, Professor Baxter's ever-widening knowledge of forest
pathology was respectfully confessed; he became in particular a primary international authority on far-northern sylvics. Undertaking some twenty-five research
expeditions to Alaska, he studied and tutored also in Finland, Sweden, Iceland,
Newfoundland, and Russia. He was president of the Forestry Section of the
International Botanical Congress in Stockholm in 1950 and honorary president of
the same group in Paris in 1954.
Locally, Professor Baxter was known and loved for his ebullient friendliness.
As he grew older his students, especially those accompanying him on expeditions,
became in a manner surrogate sons. But the circle of his appreciative acquaintance
extended far beyond his School. Along with scientific knowledge of Alaskan forests,
he had also an abiding love of Alaskan life and folkways, which supplied matter for
convivial entertainment and for warmly and widely admired lectures and films.
The Regents of the University now join the numerous and diverse assembly
mourning the death of this dedicated scientist and beloved personality. To his
surviving relatives, they would make known the honor in which his memory is held
and extend them deepest sympathy.
W. I. Bennett: The following motion, passed by the faculty of the Department of
Motion of Architecture at its meeting on January 11, 1966, was received by the
Department of
Architecture re Regents and incorporated in their minutes of the January 21. 1966,
meeting:
"It is moved that the Faculty of the Department of Architecture express its
profound regret and sorrow in the death of its Dean Emeritus and friend Wells
Ira Bennett, dedicated educator in the fine arts and in architecture, long time
public servant to many state, civic, and professional bodies, loyal alumnus of
The University of Michigan, and highly respected citizen of the Ann Arbor
community.
"And it is moved that the Secretary of this Faculty communicate this minute
directly to our friend, Mrs. Wells Ira Bennett, to the President and Members of
the Board of Regents of The University of Michigan, to the American Institute
of Architects, to the Michigan Society of Architects, and to such other scholarly
and professional bodies as he may deem appropriate.
"Sincerely,
"s. WILLIAM A. WERNER
"Secretary, Department of Architecture"