‘Unwavering dedication.’ Former University of Puget Sound president has died
A former University of Puget Sound president passed away this month after decades of work establishing the school’s educational pillars and increasing the school’s endowment.
Philip Phibbs died March 21 at 90, according to a university news release.
The university’s current president, Isiaah Crawford, described Phibbs as a visionary leader.
“Generations of Loggers have benefited from his unwavering dedication to our community and efforts to propel the university forward,” Crawford said in a statement. “There is no way to adequately express how influential he was in shaping the university we know and love today.”
For two decades, Phibbs served as the university’s 11th president. Phibbs moved from vice president at Wellesley College, near Boston, to replace 31-year president R. Franklin Thompson in 1973.
Phibbs oversaw the university until 1992, during which time he spearheaded efforts to create an independently governed board of trustees and a core curriculum, according to the news release.
During Phibbs’s tenure, the school’s endowment increased from $6 million to $56 million, according to News Tribune archives. In 1986, UPS became the only private school in Washington state other than Whitman College to have a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, an honorary society of high-ranking college students.
By the ‘80s, the university saw tumultuous changes, including the downgrading of its football and basketball programs from NCAA Division II to the small college NAIA. At one point, bumper stickers reading, “Dump Phil Phibbs,’‘ were placed in school dormitories, the newspaper reported.
But his term is etched into UPS.
Ten years into his presidency, the university established the Philip M. Phibbs Distinguished Professorship in Politics and Government. In 1990, construction was completed on the campus’s 10th residence hall and dedicated as Phibbs Hall in 1992.
After leaving the university, Phibbs and his wife, Gwen, remained in Tacoma. He supported Tacoma’s Museum of Glass founding and the revival of the Blue Mouse Theater in the Proctor District, the university said. He continued his ties to UPS, attending campus events and presidential inaugurations.
He held board leadership roles in many organizations, including the Museum of Glass, Association of American Colleges, National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, the National Association of Schools and Colleges of the United Methodist Church.
The public can attend an in-person memorial service Saturday, April 9, at 1 p.m., in Kilworth Memorial Chapel. Attendees must be current on COVID-19 vaccinations and boosters or have a negative day-of COVID-19 test result and wear an N-95 mask while in attendance.
