Cleary, James W. 1927-2007 (James William Cleary)

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born April 16, 1927, in Milwaukee, WI; died April 28, 2007, in Boise, ID. College administrator, educator, and author. Cleary was best remembered as the former president of California State University at Northridge. After earning a Ph.B. and A.M. at Marquette University in 1950 and 1951, he completed his doctorate at the University of Wisconsin in 1956. During the early 1950s, Cleary worked in Milwaukee as a director of forensics at Notre Dame High School and then as a debate instructor and coach at Marquette University. Before coming to Northridge, he was on the University of Wisconsin faculty as a speech professor, and assistant chancellor, and was vice-chancellor of academic affairs from 1966 to 1969. During this time, he also edited, with Frederick W. Haberman, Rhetoric and Public Address: A Bibliography (1964). When he moved to Northridge to work as a professor of speech communication and take on the office of president, the institution was then called San Fernando Valley State College and was only about a decade old. Over the years, Cleary nearly doubled the enrollment at California State University at Northridge, adding buildings, courses of study, and athletic programs. He was sometimes criticized for trying to expand the campus too much. Cleary's efforts to maintain a Division I football team at Northridge were also doomed to failure, as the program remained deeply in the red. He was credited, however, with maintaining very good relations with the student body, which helped keep student protests to a minimum during the Vietnam War era. Cleary retired from the university in 1992.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Los Angeles Times, May 1, 2007, p. B10.