James McLeod dies, praised for his gentle courage at Wash U

James E. McLeod, Vice Chancellor for Students at Washington University and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, died Tuesday (Sept. 6, 2011) of cancer at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. He was 67 and lived in St. Louis. He had been diagnosed with lung cancer more than two years ago.

Dean McLeod's positions placed him in charge of those who chose which undergraduates were admitted to the university as well as those responsible for how they lived once they got there. "No single individual has had a greater impact on the vitality and the quality of student life at the university," Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton said in announcing the death.

Dean McLeod joined the university in 1974 as an assistant professor of German. He soon found himself working on the administrative side. He became assistant dean of the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences; assistant to Chancellor William H. Danforth from 1977-1987; and director of what now is African & African-American Studies. Danforth named him dean in 1992 of the College of Arts and Sciences, the university's largest undergraduate school with some 4,000 students. In 1995, Wrighton added vice chancellor for students to his titles.

Dean McLeod was one of 12 vice chancellors at the university, officers who are nominated by the chancellor and confirmed by the board of trustees. He was Danforth's assistant following the Vietnam War, a time of political and racial turmoil on the campus. "Jim had a lot of courage," Danforth said. "He would do what was right no matter what other people thought. But he was so gentle and kind that it was never confrontational." Danforth credited Dean McLeod with helping create the first scholarship program for African-Americans. Wrighton credited him with "being the visionary who created our residential environment for students. "He put the university on the map as a student-centered research university," Wrighton added.

Dean McLeod did his undergraduate work at Morehouse College and his graduate work at Rice University. He had planned to major in chemistry but switched to German studies. He taught at Indiana University in Bloomington before joining Washington University.

He was on the boards of the St. Louis Art Museum, the American Youth Foundation and the National Council on Youth Leadership.

Funeral arrangements were pending. The university plans a memorial service. Survivors include his wife, Clara, of St. Louis, and a daughter, Sara, of Atlanta.

(by Michael D. Sorkin www.stltoday.com)