In 2006, longtime Kenyon benefactors Edwin H. Eaton Jr. ’60 P’89 H’03, his wife, Christine “Tickie” Eaton, their son Christopher Eaton ’89, and Christopher’s wife, Colleen Siders Eaton ’87, made a commitment of $2 million to endow the J. Kenneth Smail Professorship in Anthropology. A career professorship in anthropology at Kenyon, the inaugural position was held jointly by Edward M. Schortman and Patricia A. Urban until Urban’s retirement in 2013.
Smail, who came to Kenyon in 1973, was the College’s first professor in anthropology. He taught Chris Eaton and Colleen Siders Eaton, both of whom majored in anthropology. When Smail retired from Kenyon in 2004, he received an honorary doctorate. Professor David Suggs, who presented the degree, said, “As founding chair and early architect of Kenyon College’s Department of Anthropology, your vision emphasizing both breadth and depth has helped us build an undergraduate program that ranks second to none among liberal-arts colleges . . . . As we recognize your passionate defense of quality teaching, your organizational vision, your penchant for innovative solutions, your broad-gauge scholarship, and your service to the academy both here and at large, we are proud to make you the first emeritus professor of anthropology at Kenyon College.”
Ed Eaton earned a B.A. in economics from Kenyon in 1960 and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago in 1962, when he joined the Procter and Gamble Company as a financial analyst. He retired in 1997 as the company’s vice president and comptroller. A member of the College’s board from 1991 to 2008, Ed served as chair of the Budget and Finance Committee and as a member of the Executive Committee. He also served Kenyon as president of the College’s Cincinnati Regional Association and as a Kenyon Fund volunteer, career counselor, and member of his class’s reunion-planning committee. Ed was awarded an honorary doctorate by the College in 2003 in recognition of his distinguished career, philanthropic achievements, and service to the community.