Vartan Gregorian, 1934-2021

A historian who brought a notably internationalist vision to his role as a university leader has died.

Vartan Gregorian was born to Armenian parents in Tabriz, Iran in 1934. He went to school there and in Beirut, Lebanon before securing a scholarship to study history and the humanities at Stanford University in 1956. He stayed on at Stanford for a PhD (1964), which became the basis for his first book, The Emergence of Modern Afghanistan: Politics of Reform and Modernization, 1880-1946 (1969). After teaching both European and Middle Eastern history at several universities, he was appointed professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania in 1972.

Here, Professor Gregorian soon shifted towards senior management roles, as founding dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences from 1974 and then the university’s 23rd provost (1978-81). He left the academy to become president of the New York Public Library (1981-88), where he played a major role in turning around the institution’s finances, before returning to become the 16th president of Brown University in Rhode Island (1988-97).

Inspired by his own immigrant experience, Professor Gregorian was deeply committed to making education accessible to all, to internationalising the curriculum and to giving students an opportunity to engage with major social issues across the world. He also proved highly effective as a fundraiser, more than doubling Brown’s endowment to $1 billion (£700 million) and creating multidisciplinary centres devoted to public service and support for historically under-represented groups.

After leaving Brown, Professor Gregorian became president of the Carnegie Corporation, where he oversaw programmes to strengthen higher education in the former Soviet Union and in Africa as well as in the US. He also created the Carnegie Scholars programme to support research on Islam and the modern world.

Thomas Kean, chair of the Carnegie Corporation and former governor of New Jersey, described Professor Gregorian as “a man of the world who inspired the world…We will remember him most for his immense intellect, his thoughtful generosity, his witty, learned and sly sense of humour, and his uncanny ability to both inspire and challenge each of us to do our utmost.”

Awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest for civilians, Professor Gregorian was also made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour for his work in strengthening Franco-American relations and received the Order of Honour from the president of Armenia for his services to the country. He died after being hospitalised for stomach pain on 15 April and is survived by three sons and five grandchildren.

matthew.reisz@timeshighereducation.com