The service, presented by Shriver’s family and Miami University, included musical performances by Miami University Glee Club Alumni and readings by family, co-workers and many others whose lives were touched by Shriver.
Those who knew attended the service, young and old, said Shriver’s impact on Miami University is still felt on the campus today.
Shriver, 88, was president of the university from 1965 to 1981. During his tenure, Miami opened two regional campuses in Hamilton and Middletown, an overseas campus in Luxembourg and helped boost university enrollment from 9,000 to 15,000. He was also a strong supporter of the Glee Club and the ROTC.
“He was the embodiment of the Miami spirit,” said Miami President David Hodge.
As a passionate educator, he continually taught at least one history course a semester, skipping only one in his long career.
“He taught history as a story, a narrative framed in a moral tale,” said co-worker J. Baird, “His moral simplicity will live on. He spoke not only to the mind and intellect but to the heart and soul, too.”
Shriver was a lover of education and had told faculty members during his time at Miami that they were “paid to dream.”
But, Shriver’s accomplishments were not limited to Miami. He held degrees from Yale, Harvard and Columbia. “He never upheld a lofty view over others. He respected all who crossed his path,” said Hon.
Timothy Derickson, a family friend, said, “He was a man of deep faith. A defender of love, family, morality and ethics.”
Shriver was an active community member and was heavily involved with Three Valley Trust, OXACT, the NAACP, the Rotary Club and his beloved church, Oxford Presbyterian just to name a few.
He also began a lifelong relationship in the 1970s with the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, of which Miami University is named.
“Dr. Shriver has become a part of our history,” said Miami Tribe Chief Tom Gamball.
Above all, Shriver loved his large but close family. “His role in the family was the role he held closest to his heart,” said David Williams, Shriver’s son-in-law. “He always made time for his kids. He also saw himself as a surrogate relative to the thousands of students at Miami who referred to him as ‘Uncle Phil.”
Williams dressed in a suit and wore, along with all the other men in the family, one of Shriver’s Miami emblem red ties to honor him.
Williams also spoke of Shriver’s relationship with his wife, Martha.
“They celebrated their 67th wedding anniversary a week before his death,” said Williams, “Every single night, he would kiss her, look her right in the eye and say ‘you’re my girl forever and ever.”
Between loving his family, religion and role as an educator, Shriver lived a full life. “He made us want to be better people and that was really something,” said Baird, “He was not only a good man and a good teacher. He was a great man and a great teacher. He knew how to live.”
The Miamian is collecting memories of Shriver, which can be emailed to miamian@muohio.edu. Some will be selected for publication in the August issue of the university magazine.
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