James Madison co-founder dies at 66

By Sarah Harbison (Last updated: 08/28/09 6:31pm) During Peter Lyman's two decades at MSU, he watched James Madison College grow from an experiment in teaching political theory to a defined college within MSU.

Lyman, one of the college's founders, died July 2 in his home in Berkeley, Calif., after a two-year battle with brain cancer. He was 66.

Though he spent much of his life studying, researching and teaching political and technological theories, Lyman considered his students his greatest accomplishment, said his wife Barrie Thorne, a professor of gender and women's studies and sociology at University of California, Berkeley.

"He was a wonderful mentor of young adults. Many people have been sending me messages about him and telling me he wouldn't tell them what to do," Thorne, 65, said. "He would draw up their interests and help them find themselves, and teach them how to learn so they could carry on."

When Lyman came to MSU in 1968, he was interested in the new college's philosophy, she said. Throughout his 19 years at MSU, which ended in 1987, Lyman worked in both James Madison College and at the Computer Center as the assistant director, where he helped develop the academic computing system.

"He got opportunities at MSU to grow in new directions, because then he ended up doing all this work in electronic libraries," said Thorne, who is a former sociology professor at MSU. "We had very good years there - both of us."

James Madison College Dean Sherman Garnett had Lyman as a professor in the mid-1970s and said he is one of the professors that affected his career path.

"He has just a magnetic personality in the classroom - smart and challenging and interesting," Garnett said. "I just thought he was really able to engage students and force them to think about things.

"When I think about great teaching, I really do think about him."

Katie See and Richard Zinman, two of Lyman's close colleagues at MSU, both described Lyman as a "brilliant teacher."

"(Lyman) had a profound effect on hundreds and hundreds of Madison students," said Zinman, a university distinguished professor in political theory. "He was the kind of teacher who touched people personally … not only as students but as human beings."

See, a social relations professor, said she remembers a memorable lecture that Lyman gave to a class of first-year students. She said during the lecture - which discussed the classical liberal argument about equality of opportunity - Lyman slowly disappeared from the room, creeping back in slowly to symbolize socialism's slow crawl into society.

"He could be both a performer and provocateur and a challenger to conventional wisdom," See said, adding that Lyman taught her many life lessons: To trust herself as a teacher and to rely on her own instincts.

Aside from teaching, one of Lyman's main interests was Asian art, which is a passion he discovered after learning about oriental rugs at an Okemos carpet store, Thorne said.

"He just carried on that interest and really was very engaged with it until he died," she said.

Lyman, who was born in San Francisco in 1940, is survived by Thorne; their two children, Andrew Thorne-Lyman of Rome, Italy, and Abigail Thorne-Lyman of Berkeley, Calif.; and their two grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held this fall at the University of California, Berkeley.

Sarah Harbison can be reached at harbiso9@msu.edu.

Originally Published: 07/10/07 12:00am