A Man for the Arts

From the Iowa City Press-Citizen - by Deanna Howard

Virgil Hancher lobbied for an arts campus along the river. However, the former University of Iowa president died of a heart attack before seeing his vision completed. "He didn't know they were building the building or that it was named for him," said Mary Sue Hockmuth, Hancher's daughter. "It was always a thrill to go and know how thrilled he would have been," she said.

Hancher died Jan. 20, 1965, in New Delhi, India, while serving as a consultant in higher education for the Ford Foundation. He was 68.

Hancher Auditorium opened Sept. 27, 1972.

He served as the 13th UI president from 1940-1964.

Hancher, a native of Rolfe, received a Bachelor of Arts in 1919 and a degree of Juris Doctor in 1924 from UI. Hancher obtained a Bachelor of Arts in jurisprudence in 1922 and a Master of Arts in 1927 from Oxford University in England. He practiced law in Chicago from 1926-1940.

He married the former Susan Cannon in 1928. The couple had three children: Hockmuth; Virgil Hancher Jr.; and a daughter, Priscilla, who died at age 2 of lymphoma.

Willard "Sandy" Boyd, UI president from 1969-1981, came to know Hancher through UI's Law School. Boyd joined the UI faculty in 1954. "He was very thoughtful, very able," Boyd said of Hancher. "He had a very inquiring mind, was a person of high principle."

Hancher was very vocal with his view that there needed to be an art complex on campus, Boyd said. "Everybody knew of his vision," Boyd said. "He worked very hard to create what came to be known as Hancher Auditorium. "You might say he worked on it the 24 years he was president. From the very beginning, we always thought it would be called Hancher. He had worked so hard to make it a reality." Hancher was able to secure money for the building in 1962-64, a time when money was tight. "It was a very big breakthrough," Boyd said. "It was the end of the depression, World War II." Boyd declined to comment on where he thought Hancher would like to see the new Hancher building rebuilt, saying he will leave that decision up to President Sally Mason. Hockmuth, however, thinks her father would like it rebuilt as close to the river as possible. "It's heartbreaking to think it can't be rebuilt where it is," said Hockmuth, 75, an Iowa City resident. "I would hope it is rebuilt as close as possible. "His vision was that it would be an arts campus right along the river."