Beloved educator and former EVMS President Ed Brickell dies

At the summer EVMS Board of Visitors meeting, board members offered a moment of silence for Edward Brickell, EdD, President Emeritus of EVMS and President from 1988 to 2000, who died Friday, June 12.

Dr. Brickell presided over the institution during a period of robust growth in enrollment, infrastructure and services. His passion for education was unparalleled. EVMS recognized his devotion to the people of Hampton Roads and his commitment to the institution in 2000 when it opened the Edward E. Brickell Medical Sciences Library.

At the dedication of the library, former Congressman G. William Whitehurst hailed Dr. Brickell as the "right person at the right time to lead EVMS from its awkward adolescence to a new level of maturity." Dr. Brickell's accomplishments were far-reaching:

• The endowment growing from $18 million to $40 million during his tenure.
• The addition of more than 90 full-time faculty members and a dramatic increase in the number of endowed faculty positions.
• The establishment of centers of excellence for pediatrics, geriatrics, hearing and balance, cancer research, and modeling and simulation.
• Infrastructure that resulted in a five-fold increase in the number of funded research programs.

In addition to his role leading EVMS, Dr. Brickell was superintendent of Virginia Beach City Public Schools from 1968 to 1987; a member of the William & Mary Board of Visitors from 1976 to 1984, serving as Rector from 1978 to 1982; and an adjunct faculty member at Virginia Wesleyan College where he was preparing to return in the fall.

Dr. Brickell served in the Army Air Corps in World War II and then graduated Phi Beta Kappa from William & Mary, earned his master's degree from the University of Chicago and obtained his doctorate in education from William & Mary.