The Lawrence community is deeply saddened by the death of Professor of Government Larry Longley, following a long illness. Professor Longley died Wednesday, March 20, after a courageous two-year battle with cancer. He was 62. His passing is a great loss for the college and for those who had the privilege of calling him teacher, colleague, or friend.
A member of the Lawrence University government department since 1965, Professor Longley was a prolific chronicler of politics and political institutions. He was the author or co-author of more than 100 books and studies, including "The People's President" and "The Electoral College Primer 2000." That book's fictional opening chapter -- "The Election of 2000 is Not Quite Decided: A Fantasy," which was written in the spring of 1999 -- foretold of a presidential election crisis not unlike the real one that subsequently unfolded between George W. Bush and Al Gore.
A long-time member of the Democratic National Committee, he served as a member of the DNC's Executive Committee in 1996 and 1997. He also served as a U.S. presidential elector in both the 1988 and 1992 presidential elections, casting one of the 538 votes which actually elect the president. Locally he served as area campaign leader for presidential candidates Bill Clinton, Michael Dukakis, Gary Hart and Edmund Muskie during their bids for the White House.
His expertise on the electoral college and its process earned him a consultant's role to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee throughout the 1970s and 1990s. On numerous occasions, Professor Longley was invited to Washington to testify as an expert witness or contribute research findings to U.S. Senate hearings on electoral college reform. He appeared as an election day guest on NBC's "The Today Show" in 1976 and his calls for the abolishment of the electoral college earned him frequent interviews by media outlets around the country, including C-SPAN, National Public Radio, CNN and The New York Times.
Professor Longley was twice awarded distinguished Fulbright lectureships, serving as the John Marshall Chair in Political Science at Budapest University of Economics in 1994-95 and the Thomas Jefferson Chair in American social studies at the Netherlands' Nijmegen University in the fall of 2000.
A native of Bronxville, N.Y., he earned his bachelor's degree from Oberlin College and his master's and Ph.D. in political science at Vanderbilt University. In addition to his 37-year tenure at Lawrence, Professor Longley served as a visiting scholar for a year at Northwestern University and as a guest lecturer in politics at Imperial College in London as well as teaching in the Washington Semester Program of The American University.
Professor Longley is survived by his wife, Judith, and two daughters, Rebecca Longley, Durham, N.C., and Susan Packel, Germantown, Md.
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