07 October 2015 3:01PM
Malcolm Gillis, the sixth president of Rice University, died Oct. 4 at age 74.
A University Professor, the Ervin Kenneth Zingler Professor of Economics and a professor of management, Gillis served as president from 1993 to 2004, one of Rice’s most active periods. He was a well-known economist who consulted with numerous countries on economic public policy.
“Malcolm served Rice as its president for 11 years with extraordinary distinction and dedication, raising the university to new heights,” President David Leebron said. “His efforts bettered not only the university, but the city of Houston, the state of Texas, the nation and the world. He continued to serve Rice in many capacities in the 11 years since his presidency, including as teacher, scholar and global ambassador.
“As my predecessor, he was an important and sympathetic adviser. Malcolm was a world-renowned scholar of development economics. During and after his presidency, he dedicated himself in particular to fostering the creation of new universities. His enthusiasm and friendship spanned the entire university — and globe. We will deeply miss him here at Rice.”
Provost Marie Lynn Miranda has been a friend of the Gillis family for more than 30 years. “Malcolm Gillis was an energetic, gregarious and impassioned advocate for higher education,” she said. “He was a global citizen who served the world in so many ways. In over three decades of knowing the Gillis family, I was always struck by Malcolm’s ability to do so much professionally while still making his family the center of his life. Like so many others, Malcolm warmly welcomed my own family into his. He was a great fisherman and a captivating storyteller.”
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Born in Dothan, Ala., in 1940, Gillis worked his way through college and received an Associate of Arts degree from Chipola Junior College in Marianna, Fla., and then transferred as a junior to the University of Florida, where he received Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees. He also earned a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois. For the first 25 years of his professional life, he taught economics and helped some 20 countries apply economic analysis to public policy. His first faculty post, as an assistant professor of economics at Duke University, was followed by a 15-year stint at Harvard University. He returned to Duke, where he served as dean of the graduate school, vice provost for academic affairs and then dean of arts and sciences before coming to Rice in 1993.
His achievements as president of Rice were lauded in 2004 when he and his wife, Elizabeth, were awarded the Association of Rice (ARA) Alumni’s Gold Medal, the association’s highest honor. The ARA noted that Gillis developed and implemented the first strategic plan spearheaded by a Rice president since the early 1960s. That plan became the platform that launched the university’s first comprehensive capital campaign, Rice: The Next Century Campaign. Under Gillis’ leadership, Rice undertook more construction of new buildings and renovation of older facilities than it had during any previous decade. Among those projects were Martel College, a new facility for Wiess College, the Humanities building, the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management building, Reckling Park, renovations to Keck, Herring and Rayzor halls and construction of Dell Butcher Hall, which became the home of the world’s first center dedicated to nanotechnology, now called the Smalley-Curl Center.
Gillis is survived by Elizabeth, three children — Nora, Heather and Stephen — and grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m., Oct. 28 in Stude Hall at Rice University's Alice Pratt Brown Hall.
This is an excerpt from a Rice University news release honoring Malcolm Gillis. Read the full-length article.