EAST LANSING — Clifton Wharton Jr., a former Michigan State University president whose name and memory are tied to MSU’s Wharton Center, died Saturday.
He was 98, MSU’s president from 1970-1978, and a man of many firsts.
MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz and the Board of Trustees commemorated Wharton as the first Black president of a major U.S. public research university in a statement issued Sunday.
They said the Wharton Center for Performing Arts was named after Wharton and his wife, Dolores, after its completion in 1982 to honor the couple’s contributions and service to MSU.
“Clifton Wharton Jr.’s profound influence on Michigan State University persists through vital programs launched on his watch, including, notably, the capital campaign resulting in the magnificent performing arts center now bearing his name and that of his wife, Dolores,” they said. “But, so fittingly for a leader in higher education, his focus on developing people might be said to be his most outstanding legacy. He declared at the outset that, ‘What is frequently required is not a pronouncement of leadership but rather encouragement of the individuals within the institution.’
“There are many who will attest to the impact of his focus on people, one of the many reasons he will long live in the hearts of Spartans.”
Wharton died in New York, where he was living, said Emily Guerrant, an MSU spokesperson. He is survived by his wife of 74 years and son Bruce.
An obituary posted on MSU’s website said Wharton was a Black pioneer in foreign economic development, higher education, philanthropy and business.
After MSU, he became the first Black person to lead the nation’s largest university system with 64 campuses as chancellor of the State University of New York from 1978-87.
He then became the first Black person to serve as CEO of a Fortune 500 company and was chairman and CEO of TIAA-CREF, a large pension fund with assets in the billions.
Wharton also served as U.S. Deputy Secretary of State during President Bill Clinton’s administration in 1993.
An MSU legacy page credited Wharton for overseeing the building of MSU’s first superconducting cyclotron, the creation of the MSU Foundation and the launch of its first capital campaign, which made possible the construction of “Michigan’s largest performing arts center,” which was named after the Whartons.
“Among his colleagues, Wharton was respected for maintaining the quality of MSU’s academic programs despite budget constraints, as well as his commitment to educating the economically disadvantaged,” the legacy page said. “While he led MSU, the number of Rhodes Scholars rose, and two new colleges opened: the College of Urban Development and the College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Wharton steered the university during the final years of the Vietnam War and student protests, and he was known for being committed to engaging with students.
He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on September 13, 1926, and enrolled at 16 at Harvard University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in history, according to MSU’s tribute pages. He also received degrees from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and the University of Chicago.
In lieu of flowers or gifts, the family has established the Dr. Clifton and Dolores Wharton Legacy Fund at Michigan State University.
Gifts to the legacy fund will go toward the Wharton Center’s endowment fund to support the performing arts center.
Contact editor Susan Vela at svela@lsj.com or 248-873-7044. Follow her on Twitter @susanvela.