John Silber
| John Silber | |
|---|---|
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| Seventh President of Boston University | |
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In office 1971 – 1996† |
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| Preceded by | Calvin B. T. Lee (Acting) |
| Succeeded by | Jon Westling (8th President) |
| Chancellor of Boston University | |
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In office 1996–2002 |
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| President (Ad Interim) of Boston University | |
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In office 2002–2003 |
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| Preceded by | Jon Westling (8th President) |
| Succeeded by | Aram Chobanian (Ad Interim) |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
John Robert Silber August 15, 1926 San Antonio, Texas |
| Died | September 27, 2012 (aged 86) Brookline, Massachusetts |
| Spouse(s) | Kathryn Underwood (1947–2005; her death) |
| Children | 8 |
| Education | Trinity University |
| Religion | Presbyterian |
| †Jon Westling served as acting president from 1987–88 while Silber was on sabbatical, and again in 1990 while Silber was running for Governor of Massachusetts. | |
John Robert Silber (August 15, 1926 – September 27, 2012) was an American academician and candidate for public office. From 1971 to 1996, he was President of Boston University (BU) and, from 1996 to 2002, Chancellor. From 2002 to 2003, he again served as President (Ad Interim); and, from 2003 until his death, he held the title of President Emeritus. His tenure at BU was not without controversy and scandal over the decades.
In 1990, he won the Democratic gubernatorial primary to become one of two major-party candidates for governor of Massachusetts in the general election of 1990. He lost that election to the Republican William Weld, who won by 38,000 votes.
Taking his PhD at Yale, Silber was professor of philosophy and served as dean of the University of Texas's College of Arts and Sciences (1967–70). He had a liberal reputation in his days at Texas, though at Boston University he was best known as a conservative spokesman in academia.
Silber was born in San Antonio, Texas, the second son of Paul George Silber, an immigrant architect from Germany, and Jewell (née Joslin) Silber, a Texas-born elementary school teacher. He was born with a malformed right arm that ended in a stump just below his elbow with a rudimentary thumb. Unashamed of the deformity, he had his suits tailored to expose the arm. Both of his parents were Presbyterians. As an adult, he learned that his father's side of the family was Jewish and that his aunt had been killed at Auschwitz. His father had never said anything about it.
Silber was a member of the National Honor Society at Jefferson High School in San Antonio, and played trumpet in the school band. He graduated from Jefferson in 1943. At Trinity University in San Antonio, he double-majored in fine arts and philosophy. In the fall of 1943, as a freshman at Trinity, he met a sophomore named Kathryn Underwood, daughter of farmers from Normanna, Texas. The couple were engaged in January 1946 and married on July 12, 1947. Silber graduated summa cum laude from Trinity in June 1947. Silber and his wife had eight children, one son and six daughters by birth and one son by adoption. Their first-born son and daughter were born before 1955. Five more daughters were born over the next eleven years. Their first-born son, David Silber, died of AIDS at age 41 at their home in December 1994. His wife Kathryn died in 2005.
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