ALFRED B. ROLLINS JR. ’42

ALFRED B. ROLLINS JR., 91, the former president of Old Dominion University, as well as the former vice president for academic affairs at the University of Vermont, died Feb. 20, 2013. A member of Chi Psi, he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received his degree with honors and with distinction in English. After service in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II, for which he received the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with four clusters, he returned to Wesleyan and received an MA in History in 1946. He received a PhD from Harvard University in 1948. He began his lifetime of teaching as an instructor at the New Paltz (N.Y.) State Teachers College in 1948, and in 1963 left to become chair of the History Department at SUNY Binghamton. In 1967 he moved to the University of Vermont as a professor, later becoming dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and then Vice President for Academic Affairs. He moved to Old Dominion University in 1976 to become president, a position he held until 1985 when he returned to teaching history at Old Dominion until his retirement in 1991. He was predeceased by his first wife, Ernestine McMullin, and by his second wife, Faith Kenyon Prior. Survivors include his wife, Helen Jones, three children, five grandchildren, one great-grandchild, his sister, and two half-brothers.