Campus Currents 
Former WWC President Remembered for Bold Leadership
Robert L. Reynolds, Walla Walla College president from 1968 to 1976, died on Aug. 20 in Amherst, N.H.
As WWC’s 16th president, Reynolds led with a spirit of inclusiveness, and together with his administration, defused potential controversy during the Vietnam War when there was widespread campus unrest and anti-war protests throughout the United States. Reynolds is responsible for expanding the ranks of college leadership by adding women and minorities as members of the college’s board of trustees. He was also the first to invite student observers to board meetings and to place students on campus governance committees.
Reynolds was called to lead the college at a time when financial crisis (due to low enrollment) threatened the future of the institution. He proposed a radical plan of expansion rather than cutting programs, and enrollment rose to nearly 2,000, as the baby boomer generation entered college.
In 1976, Reynolds left WWC to serve as the field secretary for government relations for the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. He then served as executive secretary of the General Conference Board of Higher Education from 1980 until his retirement in 1985.
Reynolds was born in Webster, Mass., in 1917. He attended high school in Southbridge, Mass., graduated from Atlantic Union College in 1941 with a major in history, and earned a master’s degree in history from Boston University in 1949.
During his career he also served in administrative posts at Pacific Union College and as president of Atlantic Union College.
Reynolds is survived by his wife, Beatrice; son, Craig, a 1977 WWC graduate; and daughter, Carol Clark. W