Former Dean Theodore Lockwood mourned

Publication Date
Theodore Lockwood headshot

Theodore “Ted” Davidge Lockwood, former dean, provost and professor of history, passed away Jan. 21, 2019 at his home in Stowe, Vt. He was 94.

At Union from 1964 to 1968, Lockwood is credited with curricular reform, the trimester calendar and expanding the arts program. He served first under President Carter Davidson, then President Harold Martin.

He led the development of a general education curriculum called Comprehensive Education. He re-aligned the academic administration to create two centers with deans, one for the humanities and social sciences, the other for science and engineering. The design, he said, would create “an administrative structure that cuts across those barriers separating one discipline from another.” He combined Music, Art and Drama into a Department of the Arts with shared facilities and a departmental major, according to the Encyclopedia of Union College History (Wayne Somers, ed.)

In a citation from the Board of Trustees, Lockwood “brought to Union College a fine talent for administration, the courage to break molds, and the tenacity that was largely instrumental in making new ones.”

He left Union to assume the presidency of his alma mater, Trinity College, serving there until 1981. He then served as founding president of the United World College of the American West in Montezuma, New Mexico, from 1982 to 1993.

The son of a Dartmouth professor, he was born in Hanover, N.H., and lived for many years in Hartford, Conn., when his father taught at Trinity. He entered Trinity in 1942 but left the following year to serve with the Army 10th Mountain Division in the Italian campaign during World War II.

He held a bachelor’s in history from Trinity, and earned his master’s and Ph.D. in modern European history from Princeton University.

Before coming to Union, he taught at Trinity, Dartmouth, MIT and Juniata College. At Concord College in Athens, W.V., he transitioned from teaching into administration.

Survivors include his wife, the former Lucille “Lu” Abbot and several children. He was predeceased by his wife, Elizabeth, in 1980.

A memorial is planned for Saturday, Feb. 9, at noon at Stowe Community Church, 137 Main Street, Stowe, Vt.

A full obituary is here.