Education: Goodbye to Griff

Even if he had never ventured beyond his own field, Frank Loxley Griffin, 75, would still have enjoyed a reputation as a distinguished mathematician. But to little (650 students) Reed College in Portland, Ore., Griff has always been a great deal more than that. When he retired in 1952 after 41 years, the college thought it had lost not only a beloved teacher, but a man who as much as any had made Reed the lively and respected campus that it is.

Then, under its youthful-looking new President Duncan Ballantine, Reed ran into a crisis. In trying to tighten his administration, Ballantine so antagonized faculty and students that he finally had to resign (TIME, Oct. 18, 1954). At that point, Reed desperately asked Griff to come back and take over.

With the quiet diplomacy of an elder statesman, Griff restored faculty confidence, without sacrificing the administration's control. He stumped across the land urging more alumni support, raised enough money to up faculty salaries more than 15%-^ As peace returned to the campus, Reed's drooping enrollment climbed back to normal, and Griff retired again.

Last week New President Richard H. Sullivan joined 500 facultymen, alumni and townsmen at a farewell banquet to Jay special tribute to Griff. But the man to whom they were saying goodbye was not one they would soon forget. When Sullivan solemnly declared, "I shall always be grateful to him," he was speaking lot only for himself but for Reed.