William Travers Jerome III Obituary:
Dr. William T. Jerome III, Educator, dies at 88 BENNINGTON, VT. William Travers Jerome III, 88, died Monday, March 10, at the Vermont Veterans Home.
Born in Yonkers, New York, son of William Travers Jerome Jr. and Hope Colgate Jerome, Dr. Jerome and his family moved to Bennington to live full time in 1938. He was a 1941 magna cum laude graduate of Colgate University and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He attended Yale University Law School, qualifying for the Yale Law Review.
His studies were interrupted by service in the Army G-2 military intelligence during World War II. Following the war, Dr. Jerome resumed his studies at Harvard University Graduate School where, in 1946, he earned the degree of master of business administration with distinction. Dr. Jerome began his career as an educational administrator at Middlebury College, serving as assistant to the president and as instructor of economics. Several years later, he returned to Harvard University and was awarded the degree of doctor of commercial science in 1952.
In 1953 he was appointed associate professor of business administration at Syracuse University. He also was director of the Army Comptrollership Program, conducted by the University in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense. He was appointed professor and Dean of the College of Business Administration at Syracuse in 1958. During his deanship, he authored Executive Control The Catalyst, and was a frequent lecturer and consultant to business groups such as the American Management Association, the Columbia Executive Program and the Cornell Management Development Program.
In 1963, Dr. Jerome became the sixth president of Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. He led the university during a period of great academic and physical growth. The numbers of students and faculty nearly doubled to 14,000 and 720 respectively. Nine new master's degree programs and four doctoral programs were added, as were eleven new buildings on the main campus in Bowling Green. The first branch campus, the Firelands College, was established in Huron, Ohio. In tribute to his many contributions, the University's Board of trustees re-dedicated the William Travers Jerome Library, which was a centerpiece of his administration, in 1982. Dr. Jerome became a special consultant and vice president for Academic Affairs at Florida International University in 1970 to assist in the establishment of that institution, which opened in 1972. After various administrative roles, he returned to the teaching faculty as Distinguished Professor of Management, a position he held for 25 years until his retirement. He received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Middlebury College and an honorary Doctor of Public Service degree from Bowling Green State University.
Always interested in athletics, Dr. Jerome won golf tournaments in five states, including the Vermont State Amateur in 1948. He also served as a director of several companies and as a trustee of Riverdale Country School and Colgate University.
Dr. Jerome was predeceased by his former wife, Jean Carol Bewkes, to whom he was married for 32 years.
He leaves three sisters, Hope Graves and Evelyn Lindsay, both of Bennington, and Ann Miles of Springfield, Mo.; a brother, James Jerome of Bennington; his children, Jennie Jerome of Nantucket, Mass., William Jerome IV of Shaftsbury, Lawrence Jerome of Barrington, R.I., and Kate Coderre of Bennington; 13 grandchildren and a great-grandchild.
FUNERAL NOTICE: In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Activities Fund at the Vermont Veterans Home through the office of the MAHAR & SON FUNERAL HOME, 628 Main Street, Bennington, VT 05201.
Services will be private.
Published in:
.... Bennington Banner
.... March 13, 2008