Elizabeth Garrett, Cornell President and UChicago Law Faculty Member from 1995-2003, Dies at Age 52
Elizabeth Garrett, Cornell President and UChicago Law Faculty Member from 1995-2003, Dies at Age 52
Elizabeth Garrett, President of Cornell University, passed away late on Sunday, March 6, 2016, after a battle with colon cancer. Professor Garrett served on the University of Chicago Law School faculty from 1995 to 2003. The Law School community is deeply saddened by this terrible news.
“During her eight years as a member of our faculty, Beth Garrett was much admired teacher, scholar, colleague, and administrator,” said Dean Thomas J. Miles. “She taught a variety of courses, including Legislative Process, Administrative Law, and Civil Procedure, and I have already received several messages from alumni recalling her extraordinary teaching, her generosity in offering career advice, and the high value she placed on public service. Personally, I had profound respect and affection for her as a person and as an educational leader. All of us here at the Law School will miss her very much, and send condolences to her family and to the Cornell University community.”
“My first memory of Beth Garrett was when she came for a luncheon interview at the Quadrangle Club, probably in late 1992-1993,” said Professor Richard Epstein. “At that time her long term passion with legislation was evident, and I asked her about a paper by Fred McChesney, which I thought that she had never heard of. So the answer comes back, ‘when I wrote to Fred about his paper,’ after which there were a few minutes of spirited critique, plus and minus on the paper.” So as we left the QC, one of my then colleagues, not lost to history, Elena Kagan, looked at me and asked: ‘So were you satisfied?’ To which the answer was an emphatic yes. Beth was a force of nature, destined for administration and destined to succeed. And then this terrible news.”
“I first got to know Beth during my high school debating days in Oklahoma, when she generously took time as a college student (and former high school debate champion) to help coach us,” said Professor Lee Fennell. “She was a tough critic, and she made me a more rigorous thinker. Later, when I was a Bigelow and she was on the Chicago faculty, her support and feedback were invaluable in helping me launch my academic career. Beth had all of the best qualities that I associate with Chicago: generosity of spirit, unbounded energy, excitement about ideas, and, above all, the willingness to ask hard questions in the interest of improving a colleague’s work. She will be greatly missed.”
Below, we have reproduced the letter sent today by the Chairman of the Cornell University Board of Trustees, and then an excerpt from the Cornell Daily Sun's article about President Garrett.
Dear Cornell Community,
It is with utmost sadness that I write to inform you that our president, colleague and friend, Elizabeth Garrett, passed away late last evening after a brave battle with colon cancer. There are few words to express the enormity of this loss.
Beth was simply a remarkable human being -- a vibrant and passionate leader who devoted her life to the pursuit of knowledge and public service and had a profound, positive impact on the many lives that she touched. In this regard, she was the quintessential Cornellian. From the moment I met her during the presidential search, it was clear to me that she had the intellect, energy and vision not only to lead Cornell, but to be one of the greatest presidents in our 150-year history. While Beth’s tenure as president has tragically been cut short, her efforts over the last eight months have set the university on a path toward continued excellence. She will leave a lasting legacy on our beloved institution and will be terribly missed.
We will honor Beth’s memory with a moment of silence, followed by chimes, this afternoon at 4:00pm EST. I invite you to mark this moment either by yourself or with colleagues and friends. Plans will soon be made for a memorial gathering on the Ithaca campus in the near future. We will share details as soon as they are available.
On behalf of our entire community, Acting President Kotlikoff and I offer our heartfelt condolences to Beth’s husband, Professor Andrei Marmor, and the rest of the Marmor and Garrett families.
Sadly,
Robert S. Harrison
Chairman
Cornell University Board of Trustees
Cornell’s President Elizabeth Garrett Dies at Age 52, Less Than One Year After Assuming Office
President Elizabeth Garrett died last night at Weill Cornell Medicine after receiving treatment for colon cancer, the University announced this morning. The thirteenth Cornell president and first female president was 52.
“It is with utmost sadness that I write to inform you that our president, colleague and friend, Elizabeth Garrett, passed away late last evening after a brave battle with colon cancer,” the Chair of the Board of Trustees Robert Harrison ’76 wrote in an email to the Cornell community this morning. “There are few words to express the enormity of this loss.”
Harrison called Garrett a “remarkable human being” and a “vibrant and passionate leader” who he said impacted the lives of countless students, faculty members and friends.
Read more at Law School Communications