Even when transforming colleges into nationally recognized public institutions was exhausting, John Toll did not show it — his cheerful attitude never wavered.
Toll, 87, a former university president and the University System of Maryland’s first-ever chancellor, died July 15 from respiratory failure, according to family members. Yet, state and university officials said the impact he had on this university is everlasting — they credit the institution’s recent rise to Toll’s vision two decades before.
“He had the personality of a cheerleader; he was always very positive,” said state Sen. Jim Rosapepe (D-Anne Arundel and Prince George’s). “Lots of people have good ideas, but a smaller number are able to turn those ideas into reality, and Johnny Toll was one of those relatively small number of people who can lead big changes in big institutions.”
After receiving degrees from Yale and Princeton, Toll arrived at this university in 1953 to chair the physics department at the age of 29 — one of the youngest department chairs the country had seen. He remained in the post for 13 years and led his department to become the only program at this university ranked in the nation’s top 20.
In 1965, Toll moved to New York to become the first president of Stony Brook University. He took the university from an enrollment of 1,700 students up to 17,000, according to The New York Times, adding numerous departments to transform it into a major research university.
“Johnny never held back,” said Deborah Toll, his wife of 40 years. “He was putting forward his goals all the time and he was reiterating them, and they mattered more than he himself. I never had a feeling that he was asking for anything for himself. It was really kind of hard at times because he wouldn’t.”
But his time at this university was far from complete.
Toll returned to the state in 1978 as the president of what was then a five-campus institution, and he oversaw the creation of an 11-campus system when the institution combined with six additional colleges in 1988. He became the university system’s first-ever chancellor, but he resigned from the position the next year due to allegations of micromanagement, according to The Washington Post.
“He was a visionary,” said system Chancellor Brit Kirwan. “He had a driving desire to make the University of Maryland into one of the top 10 public universities in America. He had very high standards, high expectations of everybody who worked for him, and he was relentless in his pursuit of excellence.”
When Toll returned to the physics department in 1989, the Board of Regents — the 17-member board that sets university policy — awarded him the honorary status of “Chancellor Emeritus.” It also created the John S. Toll Professorship in Physics in recognition of “his commitment to excellence in research and teaching,” according to a statement from university President Wallace Loh.
“I really think he is the person who deserves the credit for raising the aspirations of what public higher education could be and how great the university could be,” Kirwan said. “The university has moved quite far along the path toward those high aspirations he set 20 years ago.”
Deborah Toll said her husband’s constant energy stemmed from his upbringing in Denver — his mother always promoted on-the-go activities, often taking his siblings and him through the Rocky Mountains on horseback.
“He was almost never tired,” she said. “He plowed through obstacles — in fact, he liked it.”
Toll is survived by his wife Deborah, of Bethesda; his daughters Dacia of New Haven, Conn. and Caroline of Minneapolis; and a grandson.
An on-campus service will be planned for early fall, according to Loh’s statement.
abutaleb at umdbk dot com
