J. Stanley Marshall, founder of The James Madison Institute and former president of Florida State University, died peacefully Sunday at his home at Tallahassees Westminster Oaks community surrounded by family and his wife of nearly 50 years, Shirley Marshall. He was 91.
In making the announcement, Valerie Wickboldt of JMI, passed along a statement from J. Robert McClure, JMI president and CEO, written after he learned of Marshall's death.
It is with deep sorrow that we mourn the passing of a great man, Dr. J. Stanley Marshall, founder of The James Madison Institute, and extend our condolences to his beloved wife, Shirley, and to his extended family. Florida truly has lost a friend. For the many who knew him, Dr. Marshall was an iconic leader and a lifelong educator known for his boundless energy and his passion for the people and causes close to his heart.
The love of his family, his country, his state and the citizens of Florida motivated him every second of every day to encourage innovation, inspire achievement and uplift those around him. His unwavering focus and dedication to improving peoples lives led to JMIs founding in 1987. Along with his loving family, JMI is proud and honored to continue as part of his lasting legacy.
We cant adequately express in words all hes meant to our staff, our board, and all those involved with JMI past and present. As the work of the institute continues, we can best honor Dr. Marshalls memory by holding fast to the principles he held dear to guide us into the future.
Dr. Marshall, a Pennsylvania native, was only six weeks shy of his 19th birthday when the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor plunged the United States into World War II. He was among the millions of the Greatest Generation who served in the U.S. Army.
After the war, he began his career in education as a high school science teacher in upstate New York. By 1958 he was teaching physics at the State University of New York when FSUs Education Dean Mode Stone recruited him to lead a program training high school science teachers.
His appointment came at a crucial time. The Soviet Unions launch of Sputnik in October of 1957 had heightened Americans concern about a missile gap that was widely blamed on a perceived lag in science education. Nowhere was concern over the space program more intense than in Florida, home of the launch site at Cape Canaveral.
Under Dr. Marshalls leadership, FSUs science education program became noted for its rigorous standards, graduating excellent teachers for Floridas high schools. FSU was also instrumental in the establishment of a science high school in Turkey, a NATO ally that Dr. Marshall frequently visited during the new schools formative years.
In 1965 Dr. Marshall succeeded Dr. Stone as dean of education. Four years later, with FSU roiled by controversies over the Vietnam War, campus publications, and protests by students and faculty, Dr. Marshall succeeded Dr. John Champion as president of FSU.
He retired in 1976 after seven eventful years as FSUs president. Thirty years later his 2006 book, "The Tumultuous Sixties: Campus Unrest and Student Life at a Southern University," detailed many of the eras campus controversies and was widely praised for its candor.
As former Gov. Reubin Askew put it, Amid strong differing opinions on how to proceed, Stanley Marshall courageously and effectively led the university through those very difficult times. Added former FSU President Sandy DAlemberte, He was an extraordinary president.
Dr. Marshalls retirement in 1976 marked the beginning of a new chapter in his life. He founded a Sonitrol of Tallahassee, a security alarm business. His public service included membership on the Constitution Revision Commission and the State University Systems board of governors.
Dr. Marshall, who as head of science education had hosted FSUs first racially integrated program a summer seminar for science teachers -- was particularly proud of his long association with Bethune-Cookman University, a historically black college in Daytona Beach. He served as a member of its board of trustees for 12 years, including four years as chairman.
Yet no achievement in his long and productive life is likely to have the long-term impact of the step he took in 1987 when a former student, Phil Halstead, told him about a movement to establish state-based think tanks to advocate on behalf of individual liberty and free-market solutions to the nations vexing economic problems.
After a visit to California and a subsequent consultation with British thinker Sir Antony Fisher, Dr. Marshall summoned several of his Tallahassee friends to a meeting that subsequently led to the founding of The James Madison Institute in 1987.
Under his leadership, JMI became a champion of parental choice in education, serving as a provider of what former Gov. Jeb Bush called intellectual ammunition, a sentiment seconded by former House Speaker Allan Bense, who currently chairs JMIs board of directors, as well as the FSU board of trustees.
A mentor, a family man, a future-focused leader, a kind soul -- those are only a few words out of so many that describe Dr. Marshall. I was a student at FSU in the '70s when he was president and under his leadership FSU flourished. To know him as a leader and to then be able to call him a friend is a true honor, said Speaker Bense. He was known by so many across the state and nation for his dedication to the people and causes he cared about. We will all miss him dearly.
Dr. Marshall was a longtime member of JMIs board of directors, serving as vice chairman until illness led him to step down earlier this year, becoming chairman emeritus.
In 2013 JMI captured the story of Dr. Marshalls efforts in a short documentary and special 25th anniversary edition of JMIs annual report. To learn more about him and his visionary leadership, visit the following links: (video) JMIs 25 Years of Impact: Liberty | Leadership | Legacy http://bit.ly/JMIHistoryFilm and (publication) 25 Moments | 25 Years http://bit.ly/JMI25Moments.
See more at: http://www.jamesmadison.org/press-room/press-release-jmi-announces-the-p...
