Historian Clarence L. Ver Steeg, who helped elevate Northwestern University’s prestige and served as a history professor and author, died July 2 of cancer. He was 84 years old.
“He was one of the small number of people who made the university what it is today, ” said Bill Heyck, a NU history professor and Ver Steeg’s colleague. “He was very instrumental in helping Northwestern develop from a kind of regional university to a top-level national university.”
Ver Steeg served on committees that oversaw the Lakefill’s construction and main library’s expansion. The Lakefill comprises about 40 percent of the university’s usable land, said John Ver Steeg, Clarence Ver Steeg’s son.
“Having a world-class library and life science facilities requires physical space, buildings and students,” John Ver Steeg said. “Northwestern University needed that, so the library and the Lakefill were absolutely essential for Northwestern to go from being a fine school to one of the best in the country.”
Ingrid Stafford, associate vice president for financial operations and treasurer, described Ver Steeg as a great member of the NU community who had a passion for excellence.
“His beliefs in core values about institutions were reflected in his planning of the university library and his services as the graduate school dean,” Stafford said. “He basically just committed his career to the excellence of the institution.”
Ver Steeg said his father viewed his role in the library’s development as his greatest accomplishment.
“He was a very self-starting, hard-working, energetic man with a great combination of sweetness and drive,” his son said. “My mom has been sick for two years, and he was a full-time caregiver until two weeks before he died.”
Heyck said Ver Steeg was his mentor and a natural leader who always wanted the best for the university.
“Whether we were building a department or new library, hiring new people or developing a graduate program, he insisted that we aspire to the highest standards,” he said. “He never failed to inspire me with his high ideals.”
Ver Steeg served as dean of The Graduate School for 11 years and returned as a professor of American history in 1986. While dean, he expanded the research and development of the life sciences, his son said. He retired from teaching in 1992.
NU created a Clarence L. Ver Steeg Professorship in the Arts and Sciences to recognize his accomplishments. In addition, Ver Steeg and his wife funded NU’s Dorothy Ann and Clarence L. Ver Steeg Distinguished Research Fellow Award last year, the first time the university recognized excellence in research by a faculty member. Ver Steeg also published monographs, textbooks, scholarly articles and book reviews, receiving the Albert J. Beveridge Prize of the American Historical Association in 1952 for his book “Robert Morris, Revolutionary Financier.”
Funeral services were held Thursday in his hometown of Orange City, Iowa. Ver Steeg is survived by his wife, son and daughter-in-law, Jane.
Reach Kristin Ellertson at [email protected].
