Myles Brand Tribute:
A Legacy of Leadership

Myles Brand, former president of Indiana University and the NCAA, was honored October 28, 2009, in a two-hour memorial tribute at Conseco Field House in Indianapolis.

Approximately 1,000 friends and colleagues gathered to honor IU’s 16th president and the first NCAA president to come from academia. Current IU President Michael A. McRobbie called Brand “a courageous and visionary colleague and a warm and loyal friend,” “a philosopher of penetrating power,” and “a transformative leader of wisdom, dignity, and courage.”

McRobbie announced at the tribute that IU is establishing a permanent Myles Brand Chair in Cancer Research at the IU School of Medicine to support a world-class biomedical researcher with expertise in pancreatic and other gastrointestinal cancers. Gifts and pledges to support the chair total more than $1.1 million thus far, and IU will add $1 million to match the endowment. Give to the Myles Brand Chair in Cancer Research.

Myles Brand, Former Indiana University President

The Indiana University family mourns the loss of President Emeritus Myles Brand.

Brand became Indiana University’s sixteenth president on August 1, 1994. Philosopher, faculty member, and university administrator, he presided over a period of remarkable growth at IU, including record student enrollments and national leadership in information technology and the life sciences, while maintaining the university’s traditional strengths in the arts and humanities.

TIME magazine named IU Bloomington “College of the Year” among research universities in September 2001, based on the quality of its programs to help incoming students adjust to college life. Under Brand’s leadership, research grants and contracts more than doubled, and IU received the largest single private gift in its history, a $105 million grant from the Lilly Endowment to fund the Indiana Genomics Initiative. In 2001, IU was the leading public university in private-sector support. Brand left IU in 2002 to assume the position of president with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

“Myles Brand will be remembered among those very rare individuals who have made a truly transformative difference in the life of Indiana University,” said IU President Michael A. McRobbie.

Term of Office: 1994-2002

Education: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (B.S. 1964), University of Rochester (Ph.D. 1967)

Professional Background: Provost and vice president for academic affairs at Ohio State University (1986-1989), president of the University of Oregon (1989-1994)

Obituary

News Release: Indiana University remembers its 16th president