Harold B. Whiteman, 82, Was Educator, Author
Dr. Harold Bartlett Whiteman Jr., 82, died May 6 at his home in
Nashville, Tenn., after a lengthy illness.
Mr. Whiteman was born in Nashville on April 22, 1920, the son of
Emma Anderson Whiteman and Harold Bartlett Whiteman. He attended
Montgomery Bell Academy there, the Taft School in Watertown, Conn., and
Yale College in New Haven, Conn., where he was a member of Phi Beta
Kappa and captain of the 1940 varsity football team. He served in the
military during World War II as a special services officer of the Air
Transport Command in Africa. He received his M.A. in political science
from Nashville’s Vanderbilt University in 1950, and his Ph.D. in
international relations from Yale University in 1958.
Mr. Whiteman was married in July of 1946 to the former Edith Uhler
Davis of Nashville. He served as a mathematics instructor at the Taft
School from 1946 to 1947 and a teaching fellow at Vanderbilt from 1947
to 1948. He served Yale University as dean of the freshman year and
associate dean from 1948 to 1964. He was named as assistant to the
president of New York University in New York city in1964 and he served
there until 1971 as vice chancellor for student affairs.
In 1971, Mr. Whiteman was named president of Sweet Briar College, a
women’s college in Amherst, Va., and served there until his retirement
in 1983. He was the first and only male president to have served Sweet
Briar. He then worked for Yale Divinity School as a development officer
from 1983 to 1985 and again in development for Montgomery Bell Academy
from 1985 to 1989.
Mr. Whiteman served on many committees and boards during his notable
career, including the board of the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, the
Virginia Foundation of Independent Colleges and the English Speaking
Union in London, England. His publications included the followed works:
Neutrality, 1941 (his senior thesis at Yale, selected for publication);
Letters from the Paris Peace Conference, concerning the work of Charles
Seymour, former Yale president, and Norman H. Davis and the Search for
International Peace and Security, 1917 to 1944.
Outside of his academic achievements, Mr. Whiteman was an avid
sailor and tennis player. Many days were spent sailing the waters of New
England and Martha’s Vineyard, where his family maintains a summer home
in Vineyard Haven. He is survived by his wife, Edith Uhler Davis
Whiteman; three children, Harold Bartlett Whiteman 3rd of Lookout
Mountain, Ga., Maclin Davis Whiteman of Nashville and Priscilla Whiteman
Kellert of New Haven; three grandchildren; three step-grandchildren, and
one step-great-grandchild.
A memorial service was held at Christ Church Cathedral in Nashville
on Thursday, May 9. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be
made to charities of your own choosing.