Randolph remembers former President Robert Atwood Spivey

Robert Atwood Spivey

Robert Atwood Spivey, who served as the College’s sixth president, passed away on Dec. 12, 2023. He was 92.

During Spivey’s tenure from 1978 to 1987, the College graduated the largest class in its history up to that point. He placed great emphasis on writing for students in all fields of study and greatly valued the College’s art collection.

The College Art Gallery was renovated in 1981 and renamed the Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College in recognition of an endowment established in 1983 by the Sarah and Pauline Maier Scholarship Foundation.

Under his leadership, the College also established the Harriet Hudson Scholarship for non-traditional age students and a minority task force to improve support of Black students.

After his tenure as president, Spivey was appointed chancellor and helped lead the College’s Second Century Campaign.

He was predeceased by his wife of 62 years, Martha Crocker Spivey ’54, who was a music major. The couple had three children and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
A native of Suffolk, Virginia, Spivey graduated from Duke University in 1953. He also earned his bachelor of divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary and a PhD in philosophy from Yale University.

In addition to being a Fulbright Scholar, he taught at Yale, Williams College, and Florida State University, where he helped found the Department of Religion. After serving as chair of that department for seven years, he was made provost and then dean of the College of Arts & Science until assuming leadership at the College.

The author of several scholarly books on religion, Spivey served as president of the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges from 1988 to 1998 before moving back to Florida.

He then worked with the FSU Foundation and held the position of ombudsman until 2014. He was also a volunteer with the Quest Life Skills program for inmates for 20 years.