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BORN
1939
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2022
James Wright Obituary
James Wright
Hanover, NH — James Wright, a proud Marine Corps veteran who spent four decades as a distinguished history professor and scholar, served as Dartmouth's 16th president and helped thousands of military veterans earn their college degrees, died peacefully at his Hanover home on Oct. 10, 2022, with his wife, Susan, at his side. He was 83 and had been undergoing treatment for cancer.
Known for his sonorous voice and his ability to remember former students even decades later, Jim grew up in the working-class community of Galena, Ill. He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps at age 17 and deployed to Japan during the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis of 1958. Following his service, he returned to Galena in hopes of becoming a high school history teacher and enrolled in the nearby University of Wisconsin-Platteville, where he earned his bachelor's degree, becoming the first in his family to do so.
Working his way through college with various jobs, including janitor, night watchman, bartender, factory worker, and powderman in the local zinc and lead mines, he went on to earn a graduate fellowship to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he studied the political history of the American West, writing his Ph.D. dissertation on populist movements in Colorado. Upon finishing his doctoral degree in 1969, he joined the history department at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., where he spent the next 40 years teaching and leading the institution he came to love.
A highly prolific scholar, Jim was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Social Science Research Council Grant, and a Charles Warren Fellowship at Harvard. He authored or edited a number of books, including The Galena Lead District: Federal Policy and Practices, 1824-1847; The West of the American People; The Politics of Populism: Dissent in Colorado; The Great Plains Experience: Readings in the History of a Region; and The Progressive Yankees: Republican Reformers in New Hampshire.
In 1984, he married an assistant dean named Susan DeBevoise, a Vassar graduate from Montclair, N.J. who was his partner in love and life.
Jim was elected president of Dartmouth in 1998 and served in that leadership capacity through 2009. Throughout his tenure, he strengthened the College by diversifying the student body, expanding and diversifying the faculty, constructing new facilities, and investing in co-curricular and extra-curricular experiences to enhance student learning. The Campaign for the Dartmouth Experience, launched during his presidency, raised more than $1.3 billion—then the largest capital campaign in Dartmouth's history.
Most importantly, President Wright encouraged and empowered students and colleagues alike to make a positive difference in the world around them. Leading by example, he was among the fiercest advocates for veterans in higher education, routinely visiting wounded service men and women in our nation's military hospitals and encouraging them to continue their education. He raised funds for a counseling program at Walter Reed and Bethesda hospitals and, in 2008, collaborated with senators on the post-9/11 GI Bill, working to develop the Yellow Ribbon Program that encourages private colleges and universities to cover additional costs beyond what the Veterans Administration pays for veterans' education.
He also shined the brightest of lights on those who served in America's wars, authoring several books on the subject, including Those Who Have Borne the Battle: A History of America's Wars and Those Who Fought Them in 2012, Enduring Vietnam: An American Generation and Its War in 2017, and War and American Life: Reflections on Those Who Serve and Sacrifice in May of this year. His opinion pieces on America's wars and our nation's responsibilities to its military veterans have appeared in The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, The Atlantic, and the Huffington Post, among other publications.
Jim's efforts on behalf of veterans were recognized nationally with the Semper Fidelis Award from the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation, a commendation from Commandant of the Marine Corps General James Conway, the Commander-in-Chief's Gold Medal of Merit Award and Citation at the 2009 convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Eleanor M. McMahon Award for Lifetime Achievement from the New England Board of Higher Education, and the Secretary of the Army Public Service Award.
Throughout his life, Jim was actively involved in a number of organizations that were especially important to him. He was a member of the Organization of American Historians and the Western History Association and served on the advisory board of the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation, the advisory committee for the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, and the board of the Semper Fi Fund. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2001.
Recently, Dartmouth announced the creation of the Susan and James Wright Center for the Study of Computation and Just Communities. The Center, funded by a gift from Sally and William H. Neukom '64, is dedicated to researching and advancing democratic, equitable societies through the use of computational techniques and innovations.
A son of Donald and Myrtle Hendricks of Galena, Jim is survived by his wife, Susan, of Hanover, N.H., and his three beloved children and spouses, son Jimmy and Carreen of Berwyn, Pa.; daughter Ann and Tom (Loureiro) of Portland, Maine; and son Michael and Sally of Marietta, Ga.; as well as six beloved grandchildren, Zack, Meredith, Gus, Andrew, and Patrick Wright, and Mia Loureiro. He was predeceased by his beloved grandson, his third oldest, Adam Wright.
The family is grateful for the care Jim received at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center from, among others, the schedulers, receptionists, nurses, technicians, and doctors, especially Dr. Stephen Lui and Dr. Arifa Toor as well as Drs. Gautier, Gemery, Russo, Feller-Kopman, and Carter and, in the last two weeks of his life, Dhawan, Amin, Kobin and Bayada Hospice, especially Lisa, DJ, Beth, Nancy and Robin as well as Steve.
A memorial service will be held in Jim's honor on Wednesday, October 26 at 11:00 a.m. in Dartmouth's Alumni Hall. The service will be followed by a reception at the Hanover Inn. In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Jim can be made to Dartmouth College, to be directed to the James Wright Memorial Fund. In consultation with the family, this fund will create a meaningful tribute to Jim. Contributions by check may be made payable to ""Trustees of Dartmouth College"" and mailed to: Gift Recording Office, c/o Erin Bennett, 6066 Development Office, Hanover, NH 03755-4400. Please include in the memo James Wright Memorial Fund on your check. Contributions may also be made online at https://dartgo.org/jimwright or by calling Erin Bennett at (603) 646-0098.
Hanover, NH — James Wright, a proud Marine Corps veteran who spent four decades as a distinguished history professor and scholar, served as Dartmouth's 16th president and helped thousands of military veterans earn their college degrees, died peacefully at his Hanover home on Oct. 10, 2022, with his wife, Susan, at his side. He was 83 and had been undergoing treatment for cancer.
Known for his sonorous voice and his ability to remember former students even decades later, Jim grew up in the working-class community of Galena, Ill. He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps at age 17 and deployed to Japan during the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis of 1958. Following his service, he returned to Galena in hopes of becoming a high school history teacher and enrolled in the nearby University of Wisconsin-Platteville, where he earned his bachelor's degree, becoming the first in his family to do so.
Working his way through college with various jobs, including janitor, night watchman, bartender, factory worker, and powderman in the local zinc and lead mines, he went on to earn a graduate fellowship to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he studied the political history of the American West, writing his Ph.D. dissertation on populist movements in Colorado. Upon finishing his doctoral degree in 1969, he joined the history department at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., where he spent the next 40 years teaching and leading the institution he came to love.
A highly prolific scholar, Jim was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Social Science Research Council Grant, and a Charles Warren Fellowship at Harvard. He authored or edited a number of books, including The Galena Lead District: Federal Policy and Practices, 1824-1847; The West of the American People; The Politics of Populism: Dissent in Colorado; The Great Plains Experience: Readings in the History of a Region; and The Progressive Yankees: Republican Reformers in New Hampshire.
In 1984, he married an assistant dean named Susan DeBevoise, a Vassar graduate from Montclair, N.J. who was his partner in love and life.
Jim was elected president of Dartmouth in 1998 and served in that leadership capacity through 2009. Throughout his tenure, he strengthened the College by diversifying the student body, expanding and diversifying the faculty, constructing new facilities, and investing in co-curricular and extra-curricular experiences to enhance student learning. The Campaign for the Dartmouth Experience, launched during his presidency, raised more than $1.3 billion—then the largest capital campaign in Dartmouth's history.
Most importantly, President Wright encouraged and empowered students and colleagues alike to make a positive difference in the world around them. Leading by example, he was among the fiercest advocates for veterans in higher education, routinely visiting wounded service men and women in our nation's military hospitals and encouraging them to continue their education. He raised funds for a counseling program at Walter Reed and Bethesda hospitals and, in 2008, collaborated with senators on the post-9/11 GI Bill, working to develop the Yellow Ribbon Program that encourages private colleges and universities to cover additional costs beyond what the Veterans Administration pays for veterans' education.
He also shined the brightest of lights on those who served in America's wars, authoring several books on the subject, including Those Who Have Borne the Battle: A History of America's Wars and Those Who Fought Them in 2012, Enduring Vietnam: An American Generation and Its War in 2017, and War and American Life: Reflections on Those Who Serve and Sacrifice in May of this year. His opinion pieces on America's wars and our nation's responsibilities to its military veterans have appeared in The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, The Atlantic, and the Huffington Post, among other publications.
Jim's efforts on behalf of veterans were recognized nationally with the Semper Fidelis Award from the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation, a commendation from Commandant of the Marine Corps General James Conway, the Commander-in-Chief's Gold Medal of Merit Award and Citation at the 2009 convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Eleanor M. McMahon Award for Lifetime Achievement from the New England Board of Higher Education, and the Secretary of the Army Public Service Award.
Throughout his life, Jim was actively involved in a number of organizations that were especially important to him. He was a member of the Organization of American Historians and the Western History Association and served on the advisory board of the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation, the advisory committee for the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, and the board of the Semper Fi Fund. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2001.
Recently, Dartmouth announced the creation of the Susan and James Wright Center for the Study of Computation and Just Communities. The Center, funded by a gift from Sally and William H. Neukom '64, is dedicated to researching and advancing democratic, equitable societies through the use of computational techniques and innovations.
A son of Donald and Myrtle Hendricks of Galena, Jim is survived by his wife, Susan, of Hanover, N.H., and his three beloved children and spouses, son Jimmy and Carreen of Berwyn, Pa.; daughter Ann and Tom (Loureiro) of Portland, Maine; and son Michael and Sally of Marietta, Ga.; as well as six beloved grandchildren, Zack, Meredith, Gus, Andrew, and Patrick Wright, and Mia Loureiro. He was predeceased by his beloved grandson, his third oldest, Adam Wright.
The family is grateful for the care Jim received at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center from, among others, the schedulers, receptionists, nurses, technicians, and doctors, especially Dr. Stephen Lui and Dr. Arifa Toor as well as Drs. Gautier, Gemery, Russo, Feller-Kopman, and Carter and, in the last two weeks of his life, Dhawan, Amin, Kobin and Bayada Hospice, especially Lisa, DJ, Beth, Nancy and Robin as well as Steve.
A memorial service will be held in Jim's honor on Wednesday, October 26 at 11:00 a.m. in Dartmouth's Alumni Hall. The service will be followed by a reception at the Hanover Inn. In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Jim can be made to Dartmouth College, to be directed to the James Wright Memorial Fund. In consultation with the family, this fund will create a meaningful tribute to Jim. Contributions by check may be made payable to ""Trustees of Dartmouth College"" and mailed to: Gift Recording Office, c/o Erin Bennett, 6066 Development Office, Hanover, NH 03755-4400. Please include in the memo James Wright Memorial Fund on your check. Contributions may also be made online at https://dartgo.org/jimwright or by calling Erin Bennett at (603) 646-0098.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Published by Valley News from Oct. 15 to Oct. 17, 2022.
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william g. mcbride
November 9, 2022
Semper Fidelis, Jim. You lived it for sure. Hand Salute!
Bill USMC 0302 in Memory of Billy Smoyers
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