On May 4, 2001, friends, fellow faculty members, and former students gathered to celebrate the new professorship established in honor of Roy T. Wortman.
Among the many on hand for the occasion was James R. Pierce Jr. ’78, who led the fundraising for the position and contributed a leadership gift to the effort. In addition to Pierce, contributors to the new professorship include Jack Au ’73, Peter J. Bianchi ’78, Felipe T. Edwards ’82, Ben Guill P’02, Stephen D. Hays ’83, Douglas Q. Holmes ’78, David W. Knowlton ’80, Wilhelm M. Merck ’80, Wright R. Ohrstrom ’93, Michael J. Pariano ’81, Elizabeth E. Pearson ’90, Guy R. Riegel ’80, Charles Chad Waite Jr. ’77 and Susan Butterfield Waite ’78, among others.
"Why this chair?" asked Pierce. "Why Roy Wortman? Because within Roy Wortman lie a worthy man’s goals. A worthy man stands tall in the face of adversity and remains true to his cause. A worthy man is principled in all his endeavors. A worthy man makes the advancement of others his noble pursuit. And a worthy man resists the many duplicitous faces of intolerance. Roy Wortman is a worthy man.
"Roy Wortman helped me find my extracurricular passion, American political culture," Pierce added. "Liberals, conservatives, communitarians, libertarians: Roy introduced me to all the paradoxes, conflicts, intrigues, and inconsistencies of American politics."
A member of Kenyon’s history faculty since 1971, Wortman was the first incumbent of the Distinguished Professorship in History until his retirement in 2005 when the position became known as the Roy T. Wortman Professorship in History.