Necrology
Paul Douglas Carter '56
Apr. 10, 1934-Feb. 12, 2023
Paul Douglas Carter ’56 died at his home in Ridgewood, N.J., on Feb. 12, 2023. Born in Palmyra, N.Y., on March 10, 1934, he came to Hamilton from Palmyra Macedon Central School where he was valedictorian of his class. On the Hill, Paul majored in physics and was a member of Alpha Delta Phi fraternity.
His extracurricular activities were many, varied, and seemingly never ending. He ran track all four years and played on the baseball team through his junior year. Beginning as a sophomore, he was a member of the Block “H” Club. He was in the College Choir all four years and its manager as a senior. He sang in the Buffers beginning in his second year and led it his final year. He played cornet in the band his first two years and managed that organization as a sophomore. In his senior year, he joined the Charlatans and performed in a production of Billy Budd.
President of his class as a freshman, Paul also served on the Honor Court all four years and was its chairman as a senior. In his first and third years, he was on the Student Council and its treasurer as a junior. Beginning in his sophomore year, he was a member of the Chapel Board and became its president as a senior. He actively participated in the Campus Fund his first two years and was president of the Doers & Thinkers honor society in his second year, accepted into Was Los as a junior, and was governor of Pentagon in his final year.
His academic achievements were equally distinguished. At graduation, not only had Paul been inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, but he also received a Rhodes Scholarship for two years of study at Oxford University. He was awarded the James Soper Merrill Prize given to the senior “who, in character and influence, has best typified the highest ideals of the College.” It is not at all surprising that in both his junior and senior years, Paul was included in Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities.
While at Oxford, Paul earned a second bachelor of arts degree as well as a master’s degree, both in philosophy, having turned his attention away from physics. There he met Elizabeth Baker, whose father Carlos Baker, a member of the faculty at Princeton University and a noted scholar and official biographer of Ernest Hemingway, was lecturing at Oxford’s New College on a Fulbright Foundation grant. Betsy was a student at Wellesley. They were married on June 18, 1960, and would have three children.
Returning to America in 1958, Paul went to the University of Minnesota to continue graduate study in philosophy and, as it happened, begin a career in higher education administration, joining the staff of the dean of students office in 1960. Betsy, meanwhile, transferred from Wellesley and completed her degree in Greek with honors at Minnesota. She would later earn a master’s degree in art history at Columbia University.
In 1962, they moved to New York City, where he took the position of assistant provost at Columbia University. Three years later, he was promoted to associate provost and in 1967 to vice provost. In 1969, he was appointed provost for the university but resigned within a few months to be vice president and provost at Hamilton when President John Chandler hired him to oversee all non-academic operations and be the College’s principal budget officer.
Paul returned to Columbia in 1971 and began a 32-year career in its senior administration. His first appointment was as executive vice president for administration, a position he held until 1985. He faced a major challenge, as the university was suffering by the end of the 1960s, in part as a consequence of campus demonstrations opposing the Vietnam War. By the time Paul arrived, Columbia was running a $16.5 million annual operating deficit, with much of its physical plant in need either of renovation or replacement. Under his guidance, new classrooms, labs, libraries, residence halls, and athletic facilities were constructed. He introduced the school’s first affirmative action program and strengthened its operations and services. He imposed much-needed financial controls to restore its fiscal health. In 1985, Paul became senior advisor to Columbia’s president, serving on a number of governing boards of key units within the university and guiding decisions on issues that affected the institution’s public image.
When his retirement was announced in 1994, George Rupp — the fifth president for whom Paul had worked — said that he “has served Columbia effectively and faithfully for three decades. In an impressive array of positions, he has brought seasoned and balanced judgment to bear on complex issues. No institution could ask for more from a consummately able and loyal administrator.” William McGill, president at the time of Paul’s hiring, observed that he “brought to the job the instincts of a born diplomat and … total knowledge of the campus. More important to me was that Paul had a shining integrity and innate decency that showed Columbia at its best to everyone who dealt with him.”
Paul’s sense of service was reflected in his many years as a trustee of Columbia University Press and of the International House, which provided residence for over 700 graduate students, most from abroad, who came to Columbia or other New York City universities to prepare for leadership positions in their home countries.
Early in his retirement, he collaborated with Betsy to publish a work his father left unfinished at the time of his death: Emerson Among the Eccentrics: A Group Portrait, a biographical study of the philosopher with particular attention on his interactions with Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry David Thoreau. It was published in 1996. He and his wife also volunteered as tutors in an adult literacy program.
After Betsy’s death in 2009, Paul joined St. Elizabeth’s Episcopal Church in Ridgewood, N.J., their home since the early 1970s. He served on the vestry and on numerous committees. He volunteered to assist students at the Philip’s Academy Charter School of Paterson, N.J., and had regular Zoom calls during the pandemic with a student who became a close friend. He somehow found time to work on his tennis game.
In his 50th reunion yearbook, Paul reflected on the College’s impact upon him: “In addition to instilling a lasting interest in and appreciation for literature, art, music, history, science, and sports, Hamilton showed me the importance of human interdependence in life. In classes, dorm and fraternity life, in campus activities and on athletic teams, I learned to listen, to try to understand, to learn from and respect the opinions, beliefs, strengths, and values of others. These lessons 50 years ago have made my life richer, and I try to pass them on whenever I can.”
Paul supported the College not only with generous financial contributions over a 41-year period — he was a Joel Bristol Associate — but also by serving on his class’s committee, chairing its reunion gift committee, joining the Alumni Council, and volunteering for two capital campaigns.
Predeceased by his wife, Paul D. Carter is survived by two sons and a daughter.
