Ira Michael Heyman ’51
Ira Michael Heyman ’51 died at home in Berkeley, California, on November 19, 2011, after a long battle with emphysema. He pledged Theta Chi, majored in government and spent his senior year in Washington, D.C., as a senior fellow in Sen. Irving Ives’ office. After graduation he married high school sweetheart Therese Thau and served two years with the Marine Corps. After obtaining a law degree from Yale he clerked for Chief Justice Earl Warren for two terms before joining the University of California, Berkeley’s law school in 1959. His sons Stephen and James were born soon after. In the 1960s Mike’s ability to work with competing interest groups to reach agreement was tapped when he was recruited by Berkeley’s Free Speech Movement to represent it in negotiations with the University of California administration. In 1974 he was appointed vice chancellor and then chancellor for a 10-year term, longer than any predecessor. From 1982 to 1992 he sat on Dartmouth’s board of trustees, the last two years as chairman. He then joined the Clinton administration as deputy to Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt. In 1993 the Smithsonian selected Mike as its first non-scientist secretary. After serving in that capacity for six years he returned to Berkeley law school. At his 50th reunion he received an honorary degree for his devotion to Dartmouth, higher education and his country. He is survived by his second wife, Elizabeth, son James and three grandchildren. He was predeceased by Therese in 2004 and son Stephen in 1992.
