Richard Leroy Millett, 1938-2023, Was Professor Emeritus in History
Richard “Dick” Leroy Millett, PhD, faculty emeritus of history at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, died on December 25, 2023. He was 85.
Millett taught history and Latin American studies at SIUE for 33 years and retired as professor emeritus in 1999. He mentored scholars, and helped them establish professional contacts in the U.S. government and Latin America.
Millett was a local presence who made a difference on a global scale. Born in Marine, IL on September 25, 1938, Millett earned a baccalaureate degree from Harvard University in 1960 and a master’s and doctoral degree in history from the University of New Mexico in 1966. At The Ohio State University, he did postdoctoral work and was also a graduate of Air War College. Since his installment as a faculty member at SIUE in 1966, he served on countless master’s theses and dissertation committees.
Stephen Hansen, PhD, emeritus professor and dean, joined the University in 1984 and remembers Millett as a member of SIUE’s founding faculty.
“Millett was a remarkable scholar and brought a wealth of knowledge into the classroom,” Hansen said. “He never failed to impress me with his intellectual vitality and passion.”
Millett was awarded with a Fulbright Fellowship in 1981 to teach in Colombia. After retiring as professor emeritus from SIUE, he became a Senior Fellow at the North-South Center and a former Oppenheimer Chair of Modern Warfighting Strategy at the U.S. Marine Corps University from 2000-2001. He was awarded another Fulbright Fellowship in 2007, allowing him to serve as the Distinguished Chair of American Studies in Denmark.
In 2014, The Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies at the National Defense University selected Millett as the individual recipient of the William J. Perry Award for Excellence in Security and Defense Education, where he was presented with the award in Washington D.C. In 2017, he was selected as a Carnegie Council Fellow. The council is an educational, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that produces lectures, publications and multimedia materials on the ethical challenges of living in a globalized world.
Tales of Millett’s legacy linger at SIUE through former students. Victoria Harrison, PhD, instructor in the Department of Historical Studies, recalls his affability when she was still a graduate student.
“Dr. Millett was very generous to his graduate students,” Harrison said. “We shared profound conversations in regards to his military history course.”
Millett was a source of wisdom and guidance, and helped sculpt the research direction of Harrison, who would become today’s expert on Civil War Reconstruction, Black middle class and African American history.
“Dick was bursting with research ideas and generous in giving them away,” Harrison said. “He taught me about the incarceration of Central American nationals of German ancestry during World War II and even put me in touch with someone who had been held. He tipped me off to the Black Civil War soldiers from Madison County, a topic that eventually steered me toward my dissertation.”
Through Millett’s mentoring and stewardship, he became an early pioneer of cultivating the anti-racism, diversity, equity and inclusion principles that SIUE prides itself on today.
Millett published more than one hundred titles over his lifetime from books to articles in professional journals such as Foreign Policy and The Wilson Quarterly. He was vice president of the board of directors of the Council on Foreign Relations St. Louis Committee and a board member of the American Committees on Foreign Relations. As a top expert in Latin America education, Millett was consulted by every major national television network and testified before U.S. Congress 19 times.
True to his commitment to the University, Millett’s memorial service will be held at the Center for Spirituality and Sustainability on Saturday, Jan. 20 at 1 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Midwest Association of Latin American Studies, for an ongoing scholarship program in his name. Contributions may also be made to World Vision, Inc.
His obituary may be read on the Barry Wilson funeral home obituary website.
PHOTO: Richard Millett, PhD, Courtesy of Barry Wilson Funeral Home