David Thomas McLaughlin (March 16, 1932 – August 25, 2004) was the 14th President of

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

, 1981–1987. McLaughlin also served as chief executive officer of Orion Safety Products from 1988 to December 31, 2000. He was president and chief executive officer of the

Aspen Institute The Aspen Institute is an international nonprofit organization founded in 1949 as the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies. The institute's stated aim is the realization of "a free, just, and equitable society" through seminars, policy programs ...

from 1988 to 1997 and its chairman from 1987 to 1988. He served as chairman and chief executive officer of Toro Company from 1977 to 1981, after serving in various management positions at Toro Company since 1970. McLaughlin served as a director of

CBS Corporation The second incarnation of CBS Corporation (the first being a short-lived rename of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation) was an American multinational media conglomerate with interests primarily in commercial broadcasting, publishing, an ...

from 1979, becoming chairman of the board in January 1999 until the CBS merger. He also served as a director of Infininity Broadcasting Corporation until the Infinity merger.

Dartmouth presidency

As an undergraduate McLaughlin was a member of

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...

and various

student organizations A student society, student association, university society, student club, university club, or student organization is a society or an organization, operated by students at a university or a college institution, whose membership typically consists o ...

such as Green Key, Palaeopitus,

Beta Theta Pi Beta Theta Pi (), commonly known as Beta, is a North American social fraternity that was founded in 1839 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. One of North America's oldest fraternities, as of 2022 it consists of 144 active chapters in the Uni ...

fraternity, and

Casque and Gauntlet Casque and Gauntlet (also known as C&G) is the second-oldest of the twelve senior societies at Dartmouth College. C&G was founded in 1886, just after the Sphinx, and moved to its current location at 1 South Main Street in 1893. The house was ...

. He earned his A.B. in 1954 and his M.B.A. in 1955, at the

Tuck School of Business The Tuck School of Business (also known as Tuck, and formally known as the Amos Tuck School of Administration and Finance) is the graduate business school of Dartmouth College, a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Founde ...

. He served Dartmouth steadily after graduation, joining the board of trustees in 1971 and becoming chairman in 1977. Like his predecessor

Ernest Martin Hopkins Ernest Martin Hopkins (November 6, 1877 – August 13, 1964) served as the 11th President of Dartmouth College from 1916 to 1945. Dartmouth Presidency At the dedication of the Hopkins Center for the Arts in 1962, the speaker, then-Governor ...

, the fourteenth president in the Wheelock Succession came from a business background. President McLaughlin succeeded in carrying out an ambitious agenda for Dartmouth, striving to keep it in the forefront of

liberal education A liberal education is a system or course of education suitable for the cultivation of a free (Latin: ''liber'') human being. It is based on the medieval concept of the liberal arts or, more commonly now, the liberalism of the Age of Enlightenment ...

. During his tenure academic and athletic facilities were improved; the Rockefeller Center,

Hood Museum The Hood Museum of Art is owned and operated by Dartmouth College, located in Hanover, New Hampshire, in the United States. The first reference to the development of an art collection at Dartmouth dates to 1772, making the collection among the ...

, and boathouse were built; classrooms were renovated; the Dartmouth Skiway was improved; and the Berry Sports Center was built. Academic initiatives included the establishment of the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding and the Institute for the Study of Applied and Professional Ethics. Faculty salaries increased 43 percent over a five-year period, the college's "need-blind" admissions policy was continued and the endowment grew to a new high of $521 million. Dartmouth's professional schools also grew under President McLaughlin's tenure: the

Thayer School of Engineering Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth (Dartmouth Engineering) offers graduate and undergraduate education in engineering sciences at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The school was established in 1867 with funds from ...

received a $15 million grant to expand and improve facilities; the

was strengthened; and

Dartmouth Medical School The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth is the graduate medical school of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. The fourth oldest medical school in the United States, it was founded in 1797 by New England physician Nathan Smith. It is o ...

was brought into financial equilibrium, greatly increasing its sponsored research and fund raising efforts. Dartmouth continued to progress under McLaughlin's leadership and his continued commitment to liberal education and undergraduate teaching.

External links

Dartmouth College

Wheelock Succession
{{DEFAULTSORT:McLaughlin, David T. 1932 births 2004 deaths Presidents of Dartmouth College Tuck School of Business alumni American nonprofit chief executives People from Grand Rapids, Michigan 20th-century American academics