MANY PAY TRIBUTE TO MEMORY OF GEER

William Henry Geer, head of the Department of Physical Education at the University, died yesterday morning at the University, died yesterday morning at the Massachusetts General Hospital as a result of inhaling monoxide gas from the exhaust of his car last Friday. His funeral will be held in Appleton Chapel at 2 o'clock tomorrow. The Reverend Henry Wilder Foote D.D., pastor of the Belmont Unitarian Church, will conduct the service.

The untimely death of Mr. Geer puts an end to a work which has profoundly affected the University. He was 41 years of age and in his sixth year at Harvard. Many of the advances which have made the department of physical education at Harvard one of the strongest in the country are directly attributed to Mr. Geer.

His System Widely Copied

Mr. Geer's greatest achievement at Harvard was the introduction of a system of required physical training for Freshman, a plan which has since been copied widely by colleges and schools all over the country. The great advantage of Mr. Geer's system over former compulsory systems is that he made the program as broad as possible. Before, physical training was understood to be a matter of gymnastics, and it was despised, but Mr. Geer introduced a curriculum which included every form of athletics for which the University had facilities.

He Promoted Squash Racquets

The second great service which Mr. Geer did for the University was his promotion of the game of squash racquets. When he came to Harvard, the University squash courts were far smaller than at present, and interest in the game was very slight. As a result of is efforts an addition was made to the courts and squash rose to the popularity which it now holds, and became the chief recreation of a majority of Harvard men.

Basketball now owes its existence to Mr. Geer. For fifteen years prior to his arrival, the game had been utterly abandoned, but Mr. Geer caused its return into the curriculum of University athletics.

Was Director of Summer School

Mr. Geer was a member of the Faculty of Arts and Science and of the Faculty of the Graduate School of Education. He was also director of the summer school of physical education, an organization to which hundreds of men and women come each summer for instruction. Dr. Roger 1. Lee '01, who was responsible for bringing Mr. Geer to Harvard, was his adviser and helper in forming the department of physical education, and took charge of his case at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Lee said, in remarking on Mr. Geer's place in Harvard yesterday: "Mr. Geer had been connected with Harvard for less than six years. But no one thought of him other than a Harvard man, and he thought of himself as a Harvard man. Harvard is reputed to be cold to outsiders, but the affection of Mr. Geer and his adopted university was completely reciprocated. He had earned a high place in Harvard annals and in Harvard heart."

The following motion was passed by the Athletic Committee at a meeting last night in connection with Mr. Geer's death:

"The Athletic Committee has learned with the deepest regret of the death of Wm. H. Geer, Director of Physical Education in Harvard University. The Committee deplores the loss to the University of a Zealous servant and a stimulating leader in his chosen field."

Chase Pays Tribute

Professor George H. Chase '96, acting Dean of the University, made the following statement in regard to the death of Mr. Geer: "In the death of William H. Geer, Harvard College has lost a man who, in the comparatively short time that he had been in Cambridge, had made for himself a very definite place in the Harvard community. Coming here in 1919 to develop with Dr. Roger I, Lee '01, the plan of physical education for Freshmen, he showed himself from the first to be a skillful organizer and an indefatigable worker. Under his direction, a scheme which might have aroused much opposition was carried out without friction and with enthusiastic support from the great majority of the faculty and the undergraduate body. The pioneering work which he did was a thing of permanent value and of great importance to the University.