PRESIDENT BURTON

The passing of Dr. Marion Le Roy Burton. President of the University of Michigan, is more than a tragedy. It is a loss that can only be estimated in light of the brilliant performances of his all too short life. In the end that very virtue which was the cause of his phenomenal rise from a newsboy in two streets of Minneapolis to President of three of our largest universities was the cause of his death. Even his tremendous athletic frame could not stand the strains he placed upon it. Work was his idol, his mettle, and finally his master.

He had that tremendous faculty for prolonged concentrated effort that is found only in the great Edison, Roosevelt, Bismarck, and Cavour. While at the Yale Divinity School he prepared a thesis of 75,000 words to obtain his Ph.D. His professor, Dr. George Herbert Palmer of Harvard, then teaching at Yale, remarked that he didn't see how any man could have completed such a task.

Dr. Burton marked a new type of college president. At times he actually shocked the staid old traditions both at Minnesota and at Michigan. His boyish, unblushing, personality was irresistible to all who came into contact with him. In a speech made shortly after assuming the presidency of the University of Michigan he described himself as "just a human being with sand in his gizzard". No President has ever held such popularity as Dr. Burton enjoyed at Michigan. The world has lost a great educator, an inspirational leader, and a true American of the finest type.