James Maher, a provost emeritus who drove progress at Pitt for 16 years, died at 82

James V. Maher, who served as a visionary and committed provost and senior vice chancellor at the University of Pittsburgh for 16 years, died at his Squirrel Hill home on Nov. 21. He was 82.

In 2010, when he stepped down from the role as the University’s chief academic officer, Maher was widely hailed as a dedicated leader who helped to guide Pitt through a period of trailblazing progress, advancing its momentum as a top research university and as a magnet to draw and retain outstanding students and faculty.

“Jim Maher dedicated 47 years of his life to the University of Pittsburgh, first as a faculty member and later as provost and senior vice chancellor. During that time, he played an integral leadership role in the emergence of Pitt as an internationally recognized research powerhouse that offers a world-class education to its students,” Chancellor Joan Gabel said.  

“His legacy is forever intertwined with the quality of the University, and it’s indisputable that Pitt would not be where it is today proudly serving Pittsburgh without his leadership, strategic forethought and passion for student success. I join the entire University community in extending my heartfelt condolences to Jim’s family, friends and colleagues.”

For his integrity, longevity and achievement, Pitt’s Board of Trustees honored Maher as provost emeritus in 2010. The board recognized how his service and experience resonated broadly across the University’s diverse constituent groups and units, including by dramatically increasing enrollment and applications for admission, improving alumni outreach, promoting instructional innovation, adding substantially to on-campus housing and enriching the quality of student life, and enhancing overall research strength while moving into critical new areas of inquiry and creating programs for the commercialization of technology.

For example, when Maher took on the role of provost, Pitt’s average SAT scores for first-year students in fall 1995 were 1110; they ballooned to 1264 by 2010. Similarly, overall University research expenditures stood at $235 million in fiscal year 1995. In fiscal year 2009, expenditures had reached more than $735 million.

As provost, Maher served as chair of the University Planning and Budgeting Committee and Pitt’s Council of Deans and as co-chair of the University’s Facilities Planning Committee. He oversaw the University’s schools (apart from the health sciences), the regional campuses and several major centers and areas, such as admissions, computing and information systems, student life and the University Library System. He also served as principal liaison to the Academic Affairs and Libraries Committee of the Board of Trustees.

In whatever role or position in which he served, Maher helped Pitt stride toward excellence.

Fifteen of his 16 years as provost were served under friend and colleague Mark Nordenberg, chancellor emeritus, who recalled what drove Maher’s distinctive influence on the University.

“Jim was a great partner and a very close friend. He probably was the most knowledgeable person I have known. He also was a wonderful human being – deeply principled, with strong values, and someone who was both deeply thoughtful about the many issues that life brought his way and unfailingly respectful toward others. Pitt would not be close to where it is today without Jim’s contributions.”

During his 47-year tenure with the University, Maher also maintained a role as a notable research scientist and faculty member, publishing numerous papers in the fields of nuclear physics and statistical condensed matter physics. He was a Distinguished Service Professor of Physics and senior science advisor; he served as director of the University’s Scaife Nuclear Physics Laboratory, as a longstanding resident fellow in the University’s Center for the Philosophy of Science, and as a visiting scientist at world-class institutes in France, Denmark and the Netherlands. He was an elected fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Maher grew in the Bronx, New York City. He earned his bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Notre Dame in 1964 and his master’s degree and his doctoral degree from Yale University in 1965 and 1969, respectively. Before joining the University of Pittsburgh faculty as an assistant professor in September 1970, he served as a postdoctoral research associate in the Physics Division of the Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago.

Maher’s positions of leadership in national and regional organizations included service as chair of the chief academic officers’ section of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities and service on the boards of BioOne, Carnegie Science Center, Pittsburgh Technology Council, Pittsburgh Tissue Engineering Initiative, St. Vincent Seminary and WQED Multimedia.

He was a commissioner of the Middle States Commission on Higher Education and served on the Association of American Universities (AAU)/National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges task force on accreditation. He was a member of the AAU’s intellectual property task force and a co-author of its formative report, “Intellectual Property and New Media Technologies: A Framework for Development at AAU Institutions.” He also was invited by the AAU and the Association of Research Libraries to help write a set of principles designed to guide the transformation of the scholarly publishing system.

Maher is survived by his wife, Angela, to whom he was married for 58 years; a daughter and son-in-law, Robin and John Maier, of Pittsburgh; a son and daughter-in-law, Jim and Andrea Maher, of Houston; and six grandchildren.

Visitation is 2-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. Nov. 29 at John A. Freyvogel Sons, 4900 Centre Ave. at Devonshire Street. The funeral Mass is at 10 a.m. Nov. 30, at St. Mary Magdalene Parish, St. Bede Church, 509 S. Dallas Ave.