Former GCNYC Provost passes away

Walter Roettger
Dr Roettger with his wife Margaret in Glasgow.

We are saddened to learn of the passing of former GCNYC Interim Provost Dr Walter Roettger.

Walter held the post of Interim Provost at GCNYC between July 2019 and March 2020.

He was a wise, principled and supremely experienced leader in Higher Education. When he joined GCNYC, he set about enhancing our academic processes and brought considerable intellectual heft to the work of the College.

Walter was also a warm, compassionate individual with a lively sense of humour and an adventurous spirit. He will be sorely missed by his soul mate and wife Margaret and his son Dan, and the many colleagues who had the privilege to work with him in the US and in Scotland.

He was most recently President Emeritus of Arkansas-based Lyon College, having served as the 16th president of the College from 1998 to 2009.

Under Walter’s leadership, the Lyon faculty were named Arkansas Professors of the Year nine times. The College also said he strengthened its ties with the community, beginning with the College Opportunity Program, which Lyon created with the University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville.

Following his retirement from Lyon, he served as provost and vice president for academic affairs of SUNY Oswego and as an educational leadership consultant at the Registry for College and University Presidents.