John William Elrod (21 January 1940–27 July 2001), president of Washington and Lee University, was born in Griffin, Georgia, and was the son of John Charles Elrod and Carolyn Barnette Elrod. He graduated from Presbyterian College in Clinton, South Carolina, in 1962 with a B.A. in English. Elrod attended Columbia University, in New York, where he received an M.A. in 1967 and a Ph.D. in the philosophy of religion in 1972. He married Mimi Cobb Milner on 3 August 1963 in Atlanta, Georgia. They had two sons.

A recognized authority on the work of the Danish theologian Søren Kierkegaard, Elrod wrote Being and Existence in Kierkegaard's Pseudonymous Works (1975) and Kierkegaard and Christendom (1981). He taught philosophy and religion at Union Theological Seminary, in New York, from 1969 to 1971, when he accepted an appointment as assistant professor of philosophy at Iowa State University. Elrod remained at that school until 1984 and during the last five years served as department chair. In 1984 he became dean and professor of philosophy at Washington and Lee University, in Lexington. While continuing in these positions, Elrod began working as vice president for academic affairs in 1987 and also served as acting president for a time in 1988. During his tenure as dean, the faculty increased, including the number of women, and in the autumn of 1985 the first female undergraduates enrolled at the previously all-male school. Elrod also supervised expansion of the college curriculum to include new programs in science and the liberal arts and secured funding grants for both.

On 1 July 1995 Elrod succeeded John Delane Wilson as president of Washington and Lee. Beginning one of the most productive periods in the school's history, he used the strategic planning process effectively and ambitiously to address the university's needs. Recognizing that facilities were important to the quality of the programs they house, Elrod oversaw completion of a new science center and a new tennis center, both begun during his predecessor's administration, as well as a much-needed parking deck. Planning for the school's first student commons building began during Elrod's lifetime. His building projects also included a new fitness center, new baseball facilities, five new sorority houses to match the existing fraternity buildings, and renovation of the journalism department's Reid Hall.

Beyond expanding the school's facilities, Elrod oversaw the development of the Shepherd Program for the Interdisciplinary Study of Poverty, which became one of Washington and Lee's most notable programs. He also continued efforts to bring greater diversity to the student body. In the wake of student deaths related to drunk driving, Elrod launched a task force to examine substance abuse and to recommend stronger consequences for student use of drugs and alcohol. Research grants tripled to $7.5 million, and the school began a $43 million capital improvement campaign. Under Elrod's leadership the endowment expanded from $190 to $445 million, while the undergraduate program and the law school consistently placed among U.S. News & World Report's rankings of the nation's top twenty-five liberal arts colleges. He also presided over the observance of Washington and Lee's 250th anniversary during the 1998–1999 academic year.

Regarded as a kind, nurturing, student-oriented educator, Elrod enjoyed helping freshmen during move-in day each year. He and his wife, who served as associate director of special programs, often hosted dinners with students at their Lee House residence. Elrod remained a tireless advocate for the university. His rigorous work schedule, which often began before 5:00 A.M., was all the more remarkable because he spent the last two and a half years of his tenure battling kidney cancer. The metastasized cancer led to congestive heart failure, which caused John William Elrod's death on 27 July 2001. An estimated one thousand mourners attended his funeral before his burial at Stonewall Jackson Cemetery (later Oak Grove Cemetery), in Lexington. The student commons, completed in the autumn of 2003, bears his name. The John and Mimi Elrod Fellowship at the university awards recent graduates jobs in service organizations that focus on such issues as education, health care, and housing.

Sources Consulted:
Birth date in Social Security application, Social Security Administration, Office of Earnings Operations, Baltimore, Md.; feature articles in W&L 59 (Nov. 1984): 6–9, ibid. 70 (spring 1995): 10–14 (portraits), and ibid. 75 (fall 2000): 16–19; Mame Warren, ed., Come Cheer for Washington and Lee: The University at 250 Years (1998); Elrod, A Future Worthy of Our Past: President John W. Elrod Reports on Washington and Lee University at the Beginning of a New Century (2000); volume of photocopied articles on Elrod, Special Collections, Leyburn Library, Washington and Lee University, Lexington; Atlanta Journal and Atlanta Constitution, 4 Aug. 1963; Lexington News-Gazette, 1 Mar. 1995; obituaries, tributes, and funeral accounts in Richmond Times-Dispatch, Roanoke Times, and Washington Post, all 28 July 2001, Lexington News-Gazette, 1 Aug. 2001, and W&L 76 (summer 2001): 1, and ibid. (fall 2001): 19–22.

Written for the Dictionary of Virginia Biography by C. Vaughan Stanley.

How to cite this page:
C. Vaughan Stanley, "John William Elrod (1940–2001)," Dictionary of Virginia Biography, Library of Virginia (1998– ), published 2024 (http://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/dvb/bio.asp?b=Elrod_John_William, accessed [today's date]).

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