BONNER, Thomas N(eville) 1923-2003

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born May 28, 1923, in Rochester, NY; died of cancer September 2, 2003, in Scottsdale, AZ. Historian, educator, administrator, and author. Bonner was a former president of the University of New Hampshire and Wayne State University in Detroit. He served in U.S. Army intelligence during World War II, returning home to study history at the University of Rochester, where he received a master's degree in 1948. He then continued his education at Northwestern University, where he earned his doctorate in 1952. Bonner's academic career began at William Woods College in Fulton, Missouri, where he was academic dean for four years. After a brief stint as a Fulbright lecturer at the University of Mainz in Germany, he became a professor of history and head of the social science department at the Municipal University of Omaha. In 1962 he took a year away from academia to be a legislative assistant to Senator George McGovern. Bonner then joined the University of Cincinnati, where from 1963 to 1968 he was head of the history department, and from 1967 to 1971 was provost and vice president. This led to his three years as president of the University of New Hampshire, followed by four years as the chancellor of Union University. In 1978, Bonner became president of Wayne State University, where he was especially noted for developing student exchange programs with Germany, Costa Rica, Israel, Poland, and China. He stepped down from office in 1982, but remained at Wayne State as a distinguished professor of history and higher education until his retirement in 1997. As a historian, Bonner was especially interested in medical history, penning several books on the subject, including Medicine in Chicago, 1850-1950: A Chapter in the Social and Scientific Development of a City (1957), American Doctors and German Universities, 1870-1914: A Chapter in International Intellectual Relations (1963), To the Ends of the Earth: Women's Search for Education in Medicine (1992), and Iconoclast: Abraham Flexner and a Life in Learning (2002).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Detroit News, September 12, 2003, p. 2.

Washington Post, September 13, 2003, p. B6.