J. Wayne Reitz

Julius Wayne Reitz (December 31, 1908 – December 24, 1993) was an American agricultural economist, professor and university president. Reitz was a native of Kansas, and earned bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees in his chosen field. After working as an agricultural economist, university professor and U.S. government agricultural administrator, Reitz was selected to be the fifth president of the University of Florida, serving from 1955 until 1967.

Early life and education

Wayne Reitz was born on New Year's Eve, 1908, in Olathe, Kansas. His parents later moved his family to Canon City, Colorado, where he graduated from high school in 1926, and was admitted to Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado. While he was a university student, he was a member of Sigma Chi fraternity (Beta Tau chapter), the editor of the Silver Spruce yearbook, freshman class president, student body president, and the winner of the Rocky Mountain Oratory Award. Reitz received his bachelor's degree in 1930.

After graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree, Reitz started work as an agricultural extension economist, first at Colorado State, and then at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, where he earned his Master of Science degree in 1935. That same year, after accepting an assistant professorship in agricultural economics at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, Reitz married Frances Huston Millikan. After being promoted to full professor, Reitz returned to his formal studies at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin, where he earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1941.

Reitz left academic life in 1944 to work as an economic consultant for the United Growers and Shippers Association. Four years later, he became Chief of the Citrus Fruits Section in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). In 1949, President J. Hillis Miller prompted Reitz to return to the University of Florida by appointing him the university's provost for agriculture. During his time as provost, he was also appointed to the administrative boards of the Escuela Agrícola Panamericana in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and the Instituto Interamericano de Ciencias Agrícolas de la OEA in Turrialba, Costa Rica.

University president

Selection as president A Florida Blue Key event - with Stephen C. O'Connell, John F. Kennedy, George Smathers, and J. Wayne Reitz Florida Blue Key banquet in 1957. University of Florida president J. Hillis Miller Sr.'s sudden and unexpected death in November 1953 started a lengthy search for his successor. In 1954, the Florida Board of Control named Philip G. Davidson, then president of the University of Louisville, as the university's new chief executive. Davidson, however, withdrew his name when controversial Acting Florida Governor Charley Johns refused to sign his payroll warrant.

Controversy, the Johns Committee, and integration

The Reitz years were not without controversy. Strict behavior guidelines, dress codes, and a faculty disciplinary committee to enforce these rules all received Reitz's strong endorsement. In the early 1960s, the Florida Legislative Investigation Committee, led by state senator Charley Johns, accused twenty-two university employees and several students of homosexual conduct. Those that would not resign were summarily discharged or expelled. One attempted suicide. "Reitz happily allowed Johns on campus." This differs from the reactions of the Florida State University and University of South Florida's presidents. In retirement, Reitz became an important fundraiser for local charities as well as the University of Florida. He continued to work for the University of Florida Foundation's development office until his death on Christmas Eve 1993. Four years after his death, in 1997, the university established the merit-based Reitz Scholars Program to recognize and encourage academic achievement, leadership and service among its undergraduate students.