Erwin Charles Hargrove, Jr., 92, of Nashville, died October 11, 2022, at The Health Center at Richland Place.
He was born in St. Joseph, Missouri. He was educated in the public schools of St. Joseph and graduated from Yale University in 1953.
He served in the U.S. Army in Germany and later worked as a reporter for The Baltimore Sun. He then returned to Yale where he received a doctorate degree in political science. From 1960 to 1976, he taught at Brown University, where he served as Chair of the Political Science Department. While a member of the Brown faculty, he also served as a Senior Fellow at the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C., from 1973 until 1976.
He moved his family from Providence, RI, to Nashville in 1976 and joined Vanderbilt University as a professor of political science and Director of the Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies, a position he held until 1985. He later served as Chair of the Vanderbilt Political Science Department. He also directed the Vanderbilt study-abroad program in England from 1996-1997.
He was a scholar of the American Presidency, writing several books on presidential leadership. He won the Richard E. Neustadt Prize awarded by the American Presidency Group of the American Political Science Association for the best book on the Presidency in 1988, Jimmy Carter as President: Leadership and the Politics of the Public Good. His other books include The Effective Presidency, The President as Leader: Appealing to the Better Angels of Our Nature, The Future of the Democratic Left in Industrial Democracies (edited) and Prisoners of Myth: The Leadership of the Tennessee Valley Authority, 1933-90.
In 1985, he was named Alexander Heard Distinguished Service Professor at Vanderbilt, an honor given to faculty members for distinctive contributions to the understanding of problems of contemporary society. In 1988, he received the Jeffrey Nordhaus Award for excellence in teaching in the College of Arts and Sciences. In 1990, he received the Madison Sarratt Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, as well as the Ernest O. Jones Faculty Adviser Award, an honor given to faculty members for dedication to undergraduate advising in math or the natural sciences. In 1994, he received the Alumni Education Award given each year to a Vanderbilt faculty member who has contributed substantially to developing or participating in programs that further the education of Vanderbilt alumni.
He was a member of Christ Church Cathedral and the Old Oak Club and enjoyed time in the company of friends in a Nashville discussion group known as the “Ole Goats.” He also maintained lifelong, close relationships with his Yale roommates and his childhood friends from St. Joseph.
He had an unquenchable intellectual curiosity, reading numerous books on politics, history, and a wide range of other subjects until shortly before he passed away. He also was an avid writer who sought to expand his boundaries as an author even after his retirement from Vanderbilt by writing several works of fiction. His greatest joy throughout his life, however, was spending time and sharing good conversation with his family and friends.
He is preceded in death by his parents, Erwin Charles Hargrove and Gladys France, and his wife, Julia Mosher.
He is survived by his former wife and mother of his three children, Lynne Douglas Hargrove, and his children, John Page Hargrove, Amy Hargrove Cate (George) and Sarah Douglas Hargrove, all of Nashville; granddaughter, Blythe Douglas Cate, of Nashville; granddaughter, Catherine Hargrove Taylor (Brooks), of Greenville, SC; and great-grandson Henry Holbrook Taylor, of Greenville, SC.
A celebration of his life will be held at a future date.
Memorial contributions may be made to Christ Church Cathedral or the charity of one’s choice.
The family wishes to thank the staff at Richland Place Health Center, Alive Hospice, and caregiver Typhanee Fitzgerald and her staff for their care and compassion.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.marshalldonnellycombs.com for the Hargrove family.
For more obituaries visit https://davidsoncountysource.com/obituaries/
