College mourns passing of President Emeritus Gerald W. Gibson
May 21, 2021
Maryville College is mourning the passing of Dr. Gerald W. Gibson, president emeritus, who passed away May 20, following an extended illness. He was 83.
Gibson was inaugurated as Maryville College’s 10th president in 1993 and retired in 2010. Credited with leading the College into its current state of historic strength, he took the helm when enrollment at MC was 752 students, and the College’s endowment was valued at around $12.5 million. At the conclusion of his 17-year tenure, the College had celebrated a record enrollment of 1,176 undergraduates and an endowment value of $55 million.
“Dr. Gibson’s stamp on Maryville College is simply indelible, and he will be remembered as a transformational leader in our history,” said Maryville College’s 12th and current president, Dr. Bryan F. Coker, in an email to the campus community late Thursday. “So many of the successes we enjoy today can be traced back to Dr. Gibson’s belief in – and his vision for – Maryville College.
“As I have met with our alumni and friends in recent months, many have been forthright in sharing their belief that Dr. Gibson truly saved Maryville College at a precarious moment in our history,” Coker continued. “We will forever be grateful for – and impacted by – his dedicated service as our 10th president.”
Gibson enjoyed a 45-year career in higher education. A native of Saluda County, S.C., he spent much of his childhood in Spartanburg. He studied chemistry and earned degrees at Wofford College (B.S.) and the University of Tennessee-Knoxville (Ph.D.) and served as a member of the U.S. Army Chemical Corps prior to joining the faculty at the College of Charleston in 1965. He served as chair of the chemistry department at the College of Charleston from 1968 until 1982, when he was named associate provost for academic affairs at the College. In 1984, he left to become vice president and dean of Roanoke College in Salem, Va., where he served for the next nine years.
Gerald Gibson is survived by wife Rachel Plummer Gibson; children Holly Gibson Yalove, Laura Gibson Owens ’97 and Paul Gibson ’00; sons- and daughter-in-law Jay Yalove, Casey Owens and Amanda Smeltzer Gibson ’01; grandchildren Alexandra and Madeline Yalove, Annabelle Owens and Isaac Gibson; sister Norma Webb; nephew Mark Webb and wife Pam; and niece Karen Van Amburg and husband Tony.
Coker, who became Maryville College’s president in July 2020, said he was thankful to have had the opportunity to meet and get to know the 10th president.
“My wife, Sara, and I were honored to spend time and become friends with Gerald and Rachel in recent months – even making the extraordinary discovery that Gerald and I were fourth cousins, with roots in the same rural county in Western North Carolina,” he said. “The Maryville College community extends our sincerest sympathy and our heartfelt prayers to Rachel and the entire Gibson family during this time, and we join them in celebrating Gerald’s well-lived life of faithful service for the greater good.”
A memorial service will be held in the Ronald and Lynda Nutt Theatre inside the Clayton Center for the Arts, at 2 p.m., Fri., June 11. The family will receive friends following the service in the William Baxter Lee III Foyer of the Clayton Center for the Arts. Masks will be required. The event will be live-streamed on the Maryville College website.
A private interment will take place in the College’s cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that gifts be made to the Gerald Gibson Professional Development Fund at Maryville College, 502 E. Lamar Alexander Pkwy, Maryville, TN 37804 or online at www.maryvillecollege.edu/givetoday.
Worked for ‘best possible college’
In his research of Maryville College prior to assuming the presidency, Gibson was inspired by the words and success of fifth president and 1878 alumnus Dr. Samuel Tyndale Wilson, and borrowed Wilson’s “best possible college” aspirational phrase in crafting his inauguration address and designing the College’s first strategic plan under his leadership, the MC2000 Plan. Another plan, the MC Window of Opportunity, would follow and be coupled with a campaign that would set fundraising records at the College.
Much of Gibson’s success was rooted in a culture of planning, which he established early in his presidency. Aspiration exercises among various constituencies, detailed planning and frequent and transparent reporting were part of the process.
Improving the appearance of campus was an early and ever-present priority in Gibson’s presidency. Ten new construction projects and 30 renovations or restorations were completed in his 17 years, including the $47-million Clayton Center for the Arts. Envisioned as a performing arts center for the community that would also be home to the College’s Fine Arts Division, the Clayton Center for the Arts was constructed with funds from the College, the cities of Maryville and Alcoa, and state and federal governments. It opened in the Spring of 2010, just months before Gibson retired.
In 2008, the College honored the service of Gibson and his wife when it dedicated the $8-million, four-story, 53,000 square-foot Gerald W. and Rachel P. Gibson Residence Hall. A year later, Gerald and Rachel were named honorary alumni, and in 2010, he was presented with an honorary doctor of liberal studies from the College.
Championed the liberal arts
A self-described “liberal arts patriot,” Gibson was the author of Good Start: A Guidebook for New Faculty in Liberal Arts Colleges, which was nominated for the Frederic W. Ness Book Award in 1992. At Maryville College, he championed initiatives that strengthened the College’s general education curriculum and improved its reputation.
Under his watch, the College gained recognition from U.S. News & World Report and other publications and was recognized by the John Templeton Foundation’s Honor Roll for Character Building Colleges and its “Colleges that Encourage Character Development” guide.
He established the Maryville College Liberal Arts Institute for new faculty and staff.
Strengthened relationships
Gibson’s personal connections with numerous organizations and individuals bolstered the College’s relationships with local communities and the Presbyterian Church (USA). While president, Gibson served on the boards of the Blount Partnership, the Tennessee Resource Valley, the Knoxville Symphony Society and the East Tennessee Foundation, and he was a member of Leadership Blount’s Class of 1994 and Leadership Knoxville’s Class of 1995.
An active member of New Providence Presbyterian Church, he served on the board of the Association of Presbyterian Colleges and Universities.
He created and actively recruited for new advisory groups as the College, such as the Board of Church Visitors and National Advisory Council.
Served in retirement
As president emeritus, Gibson continued his involvement with the College after 2010. He visited donors, spoke at events, volunteered during Kin Takahashi Days and co-chaired the College’s Bicentennial Steering Committee formed in 2017 to plan the yearlong celebration in 2019.
Coinciding with the College’s Bicentennial was the publication of Tenth Watch, Gibson’s 405-page memoir of his years at Maryville College. He spent three years working on the project, which includes up-close accounts and impacts of major on- and off-campus events, such as the Fayerweather Hall fire, the building of the Clayton Center for the Arts, the Great Recession of 2008 and key institutional data from 1993 until 2010.
“Gerald Gibson was not only a president of Maryville College; he was an eager student of its history. He told the story of Maryville College extremely well because he knew it, believed in it and loved it,” Coker said. “It was incredibly generous – but also incredibly characteristic – for Dr. Gibson to spend his retirement years writing Tenth Watch, so that I and my successors can build on his good work with invaluable perspective and wisdom.”
Written by Karen Beaty Eldridge ’94, Executive Director for Marketing & Communications
