KU mourns Clarke Wescoe

W. Clarke Wescoe memorial service
4 p.m. Wednesday, March 10
Central Court, Spencer Museum of Art. Overflow seating in Spencer auditorium.
Reception to follow at Adams Alumni Center.
Parking available un Mississippi Street garage.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the KU Endowment Association.

Chancellor W. Clarke Wescoe speaks to students during a 1966 basketball rally in front of Strong Hall. Wescoe, KU’s 10th chancellor, died Sunday, Feb. 29, at the age of 83. University Archives, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas Libraries

University’s chancellor from 1960-69, died Feb. 29

KU will conduct a memorial service for W. Clarke Wescoe at 4 p.m. Wednesday, March 10, in the Central Court of the Spencer Museum of Art.

Wescoe, KU’s 10th chancellor, died Sunday, Feb 29, at the age of 83. Private burial services will take place at KU’s Pioneer Cemetery.

Chancellor Robert Hemenway said Wescoe’s mark on KU would continue to benefit students and scholars for generations to come.

“Chancellor Wescoe was a great leader of this university during one of the most challenging and turbulent periods in its history,” Hemenway said. “As a testament to his considerable talent, he skillfully managed to enhance the quality of education at this university while also defusing explosive campus unrest and responding to the near doubling in enrollment.”

Wescoe, who was born May 3, 1920, in Allentown, Pa., joined the KU faculty in 1951 as a professor of pharmacology at the medical center. One year later at age 32, he was named dean of the School of Medicine, the youngest medical dean in the nation. In 1960, he was named chancellor, replacing Franklin Murphy, who resigned to become chancellor of the University of California-Los Angeles. In 1969, Wescoe resigned to become vice president for medical affairs research at Sterling Drug Inc. and, in 1985, retired as chairman of the board and chief executive officer of that company.

Wescoe and his late wife, Barbara Benton Wescoe, made significant financial contributions to the university, including 46 gifts of art to the Spencer Museum of Art. In 1987, the Wescoes also donated the “Tai Chi Figure” sculpture by Zhu Ming, which is in front of Green Hall.

Two structures on KU’s campuses are named in Wescoe’s honor—the 30-year-old Wescoe Hall, KU’s humanities building in Lawrence, and Wescoe Pavilion at the medical center in Kansas City, Kan.

Known as a warm, personable man, Wescoe was called the “singing chancellor,” as he would occasionally sing original lyrics at convocation and commencement.

“Chancellor Wescoe once said a university is created for the ‘young in heart and the brave in spirit,’” Hemenway said. “He may well have been speaking of his own enthusiasm for life and learning. This university is a better place thanks to the dedication and many personal and financial contributions of Clarke Wescoe. He was a true Jayhawk, and he will be missed.”

Chancellors of the University of Kansas
R.W. Oliver, 1865-1867
John Fraser, 1867-1874
James Marvin, 1874-1883
Joshua A. Lippincott, 1883-1889
Francis Huntington Snow, 1890-1901
Frank Strong, 1902-1920
Ernest Hiram Lindley, 1920-1939
Deane W. Malott, 1939-1951
Franklin David Murphy, 1951-1960
W. Clarke Wescoe, 1960-1969
E. Laurence Chalmers, 1969-1972
Raymond F. Nichols, 1972-1973
Archie R. Dykes, 1973-1980
Gene A. Budig, 1981-1994
Delbert M. Shankel, 1994-1995
Robert E. Hemenway, 1995-