JAMES E. MCCABE ’39

JAMES E. MCCABE, 90, a former trustee at Wesleyan who chaired a presidential search committee, and whose career included important posts in government, business, and education, died May 25, 2007. A member of Eclectic, he received his degree with honors and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received a master’s degree from the Maxwell School of Government at Syracuse University. During World War II he served in Washington, D.C., at the Defense Housing Agency and the War Production Board. After the war he became an executive at Merck and Company, where he worked for 26 years. Prior to his retirement from Merck, he began his service as a Wesleyan trustee and became interested in higher education. This led to his appointment as vice president and treasurer of Skidmore College in 1970. He also led the search committee to fill the president’s chair at Skidmore and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws there in 1991. In 1974 Wesleyan honored him as a Distinguished Alumnus. Survivors include his wife, Elisabeth Rhoades McCabe, three children, six grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, and a brother and sister.