Raynor, John Patrick (1923-1997), educator, university president, and clergyman

Raynor, John Patrick (01 October 1923–14 November 1997), educator, university president, and clergyman, was born in Omaha, Nebraska, one of ten children of Walter V. Raynor, an investment banker and bond salesman, and Mary Clare (May) Raynor. From 1938 to 1941 John attended the Jesuit high school Creighton Prep in Omaha. He joined the Society of Jesus on 17 August 1941 at St. Stanislaus Seminary in Florissant, Missouri.

In 1945 he continued his studies at St. Louis University, earning an AB (1947) and an MA (1948), both in Latin and Greek, and the Licentiate in Philosophy, an ecclesiastical degree, in 1949. From 1948 to 1951 he was an instructor at St. Louis University High School and served as assistant principal during the 1951 school year. In 1952 he began theological studies at St. Mary's College, in St. Marys, Kansas. He was ordained a Roman Catholic priest on 16 June 1954 and received the Licentiate in Theology in 1956. During the 1956 academic year he concentrated on ascetical studies at St. Joseph's Hall in Decatur, Illinois. Raynor earned a PhD in education in 1960 at the University of Chicago. His dissertation was "The Encouragement of Research at Five Jesuit Institutions," a catalogue and evaluation of policies, procedures, and customs.

The same year he joined the education department and was made an assistant to the dean of liberal arts at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He remained at Marquette for the rest of his life and rose rapidly in its administrative ranks: he became assistant to the vice president for academic affairs in 1961-1962, vice president for academic affairs from 1962 to 1965; then in 1965 he became the university's twentieth president.

Raynor's presidency covered a quarter century of rapid change and growth for Marquette University, in part because of foundations laid by his immediate predecessors, William J. Kelley and Edward J. O'Donnell. During his presidency enrollment increased from about eight thousand to over twelve thousand, the operating budget increased from $22 to $131 million, and the campus grew from twenty-six to eighty acres.

When Raynor became president, about ten percent of the faculty and a few deans were Jesuits, yet fewer men were entering Jesuit seminaries. He quickly appointed the first lay vice presidents for business and finance and for academic affairs. In 1969 he expanded the board of trustees from three to twenty-nine members, many of whom were laymen.

The Marquette Medical School had long had financial problems that drained resources from other units of the university. This fundamental problem had to be solved. Raynor, the Medical School, and the Board of Trustees decided that a separation was best for the Medical School and the university. Negotiations determined that the separation would occur in 1967; with the assistance of Milwaukee County, the Medical School moved to a new building on county land. In 1970 it was renamed the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Raynor was the first Marquette president to make fund-raising a substantial part of his work. He considered himself a salesman for Marquette and often described this as "prospering the University." In this work, his remarkable talent for remembering names was a great asset. He led three special campaigns to raise funds. In 1975 a campaign raising $31.5 million concluded successfully. In 1980 the Greater Marquette Fund Drive ended, raising $40.5 million. The year 1987 marked the start of the Campaign for Marquette that eventually raised $131.6 million. He was an avid golfer, and weather permitting, he spent Saturday mornings on the links with donors, alumni, and university friends.

Under Raynor, the university had twenty-five balanced budgets with surpluses. If there was a weakness in his financial management, it was his belief that because so much university funding came from tuition, all of the university's resources should be used for the benefit of current students. In hindsight, given the run up of the stock market, a greater portion of the surpluses should have been invested through the endowment.

Raynor was a strong supporter and advocate for academic freedom. This placed him in a difficult position when many alumni and donors objected strongly to the presence, writings, and public presentations of certain members of the theology faculty. Raynor maintained that academic freedom was essential for a university and that tenure ensured that freedom.

Raynor also believed that the university had to be true to both its intellectual and Catholic/Jesuit traditions and to its profession of Christian values. His beliefs are incorporated into the four-word summary of the university's mission statement, which was developed during his tenure: Excellence, Faith, Leadership, Service. These values and traditions had to permeate Marquette's quality teaching and research. Its students, through exposure to religious insights, human discovery, and human yearning, should become graduates who could and would contribute to society at large. He believed that the university had to lead by example; therefore he insisted that it become a major participant in the community and not a fortress where the inhabitants talked only among themselves. In 1969 he established the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), a joint federal government and institutional program to assist low-income first-generation college students. Minority students constituted the bulk of its enrollment. EOP provided pre-college summer work, specialized courses, tutoring, and counseling. The program developed several national leaders and has been hailed as a model for programs providing opportunities for disadvantaged students. Its founding director, Dr. Arnold L. Mitchem, became the first president of the Council for Opportunity in Education, a Washington, D.C.-based group that advises and lobbies Congress on educational programs that assist low-income and minority students. The great number of important civic and other committees Raynor served on is an indication of his own commitment to this ideal. A few of these committees included the Greater Milwaukee Committee, United Community Services of Greater Milwaukee, Milwaukee Heart Research Foundation, and in 1996 he was elected to the board of directors of the Kimberly-Clark Corporation.

Raynor took great pride in the granting of a Phi Beta Kappa chapter to Marquette in 1970, the 1977 NCAA championship won by the men's basketball team, and the first Pere Marquette Discovery Award (Marquette's highest award named after the explorer Jacques Marquette), presented to the crew of Apollo 11 in 1969 and given to Mother Teresa in 1982. During this time, Raynor had two serious heart operations. He recovered from each with a great amount of determination.

He stepped down as president of Marquette on 14 August 1990 and became chancellor on 15 Aug. 1991, holding this position for seven years. He continued his work with donors and friends of the university. He had a third and very serious heart operation, and in 1997 he succumbed to cancer that had metastasized into the brain. His name will be remembered at Marquette through many scholarships and the John P. Raynor, S. J. Library, which was dedicated 19 September 2003.