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MEMORIAL ARTICLE
PUBLISHED ASSEMBLY SEP 2002
WESLEY WENTZ POSVAR * '46
No. 15287 * 14 Sep 1925 - 28 July 2001
Died in Latrobe, PA * Interred at West Point Cemetery, West Point,
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Wes Posvar was born in Topeka, KS but grew up in
Cleveland, OH. West Point classmate, Bob Shackleton, knew Wes
in Cleveland. He recalled: " He was the single most impressive
person I ever met. Even in junior high school he was recognized
as the most, by far, intelligent student ever enrolled there.
When he graduated high school in 1943 as class president and
valedictorian, he was immensely popular and highly respected."
Wes joined the Class of 1946 at West Point on 1 July 1943. His
record there was remarkable. He was first in the class academically
each year and was on the Brigade Staff first class year. He opted
for air cadet training and graduated a second lieutenant in the
then Army Air Corps with his pilot's wings. He was also selected
as a Rhodes Scholar.
After fighter transition training in AZ, Wes was assigned to
the 3200th Ftr Test Sqn at Eglin AFB, FL. From 1948 - 1951, he
attended Oxford University and earned the B.A. and M.A. in philosophy,
politics and economics. Wes married his high school classmate,
Mildred Miller in Stuttgart, Germany on 30 June 1950. The Posvars
returned to West Point in 1951 where Wes became an instructor
in the Social Sciences Department. In 1957, he was named Professor
of Social Sciences at the Air Force Academy and later was appointed
Chairman of the Division of Social Sciences. He earned his Masters
in Public Administration and a Ph.D in Political Science from
Harvard from 1962 to 1964.
In 1967, Wes retired from the Air Force, as a brigadier general,
to become the Chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh. He
is credited with bringing Pitt from the brink of financial disaster
to renown as one of the nation's leading academic research institutions.
By 1976 he had taken it to greater heights than it had ever known
before. He retired from Pitt in 1991. In May 2000, Pitt named
its largest campus classroom building, Wesley Posvar Hall. At
the time of the dedication of Posvar Hall, J.W. Connolly, then
Chair of Pitt's Board of Trustees said "His talent and vision
contributed in large measure to the development of the University
into one of the world's preeminent centers of academic medicine
and research."
Wes was also the founding chairman both of the Federal Emergency
Management Advisory Board and the National Advisory Council on
Environmental Policy and Technology. He was a principal advisor
to the Environmental Protection Agency. He headed a special commission
on the West Point Honor Code and served as an advisor to the
government on foreign intelligence, civil aviation and national
emergency telecommunications.
Wes was also active in international affairs. He was president
of the World Society of Ekistics (the study of human settlements).
He was the initiator, founding chairman, and a trustee of the
Prague based Czech Management Center. He was also a trustee of
the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the US Space
Foundation.
Wes had a heart attack and died enroute to the hospital 28 July
2001. Survivors include his wife Millie, son, Wesley William,
daughters, Marina and Lisa and seven grandsons and a half brother,
Jan Posvar.
That Wes Posvar was a remarkable man is an understatement. The
remembrances of those who knew and loved him best reflect the
extent of his greatness.
Bob Shackleton: "Wes had no meanness of spirit; he was never
petty; he respected people and he genuinely liked his fellow
creatures. He did much good during his years on earth and those
who knew him will never forget him."
Reverend Harold Lewis who delivered the funeral sermon, said:
"When all is said and done, Wesley Wentz Posvar would probably
best wish to be remembered not as a Rhodes Scholar, a brigadier
general or a distinguished chancellor of a renowned university.
Rather, he would want to be known as 'an agent for social change.'
He was a genius who never lost the common touch. He was, as a
friend described him, a fighter pilot trapped in the body of
a scholar."
His 17-year-old grandson, Wesley Fishwick Posvar, wrote a poem
about his grandfather. It read in part: "You knew everything
about the sun, moon and stars and far away lands. Even at 75
your mind was full of energy and youth. Nobody was more down
to earth. I salute you."
His son, Wesley, at the funeral, said: 'There was a common thread
between his first career as an Air Force officer and second career
as a University President, that being Public Service. There is
no question that a strong commitment to Public Service was his
biggest driver. My father had many achievements of which to be
proud. But my father was most proud of his seven grandsons. He
was fascinated and absorbed and consumed by the Miracle of Life.
And, on this occasion, so must we."
His son also had these comments at the interment at West Point:
"My father was immensely proud of his West Point and military
experience. There is a bond between classmates of West Point
that as a civilian I cannot understand but I can jealously observe
that it is probably the strongest non-family relationship in
American society. Today, we add his mortal remains to the earth
and foundations of West Point. I gladly and happily leave my
father here, so that his presence, both individually and collectively
with all the other West Point graduates buried here, will inspire
future generations of West Point Cadets to greatness, in keeping
America free. Even in death, my father lives, as one of The Long
Gray Line."
The Class of 1946 is honored to add: "Well Done, Wes; Be
Thou At Peace!"
'46 Memorial Article Project and his family
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