Former Duke Provost and Professor Emeritus of Political Science Frederic Cleaveland died Dec. 21. He was 90 years old. Friends remembered him as being "very thoughtful, kind and intelligent."
Cleaveland, Trinity '37 and Graduate School '42, completed his Ph.D. at Princeton University in 1951. He then joined the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Cleaveland later became chair of the UNC political science department, a position he held until 1970.
Duke offered him the position of provost-a post that oversees all of the academic affairs of the University-in 1971.
Cleaveland served as provost until 1978, but remained at Duke as a member of the political science faculty after he stepped down from the administrative position.
Political Science Professor Allan Kornberg, who knew Cleaveland for 41 years, relayed some of his fondest memories of the man he called "smart as hell, tough as nails, always kind and gracious."
A fresh-out-of-graduate-school Kornberg was hired to join Duke's faculty as an associate professor in 1965, when Cleaveland was chair of UNC's political science department.
Although they were on staff at different institutions, Kornberg said Cleaveland would invite him to his home frequently.
"It wasn't something he did only with me. It was universal," Kornberg noted.
Kornberg's friendship with Cleaveland continued after Cleaveland was tapped as Duke's provost.
"He was a very quiet leader. People frequently thought he was a pushover," Kornberg recalled. "But once he made up his mind it was hard to get him to change it."
When Cleaveland relinquished the reigns as provost in 1978 and joined the ranks of the political science faculty, Kornberg was chair of the department.
Cleaveland had no qualms about working under the man who had previously looked up to him as a leader.
"He never said 'no' to anything," Kornberg said, adding that he often asked Cleaveland to head various committees and review documents for the department. "He was a very valuable senior colleague."
In 1994 Cleaveland helped start "Plato's Loft," a bi-weekly discussion forum at UNC modeled on seminars at Princeton. Members included former students, colleagues and retired diplomats.
Cleaveland is survived by three children, nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
His wife Barbara, Women's College '40, who taught in the UNC School of Social Work, died in August.
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