Robert Hazard Edwards, the President of Carleton College from 1977 to 1986, died on November 30th, 2025 at the age of 90.
Edwards was a graduate of Princeton and Harvard, and he arrived at Carleton from the Ford Foundation. During his tenure, the college launched an innovative program, “Science, Technology, and Public Policy” (which evolved to be the current Environmental Studies program), and Gould Library was remodeled and expanded. ACT (Acting in the Community Together, now part of the Center for Community and Civic Engagement) was established to coordinate volunteering between students and volunteer programs. Bob Edwards was appointed President Emeritus by the Carleton Board of Trustees in October 2011.
In the fall 2016 edition of The Voice, Edwards spoke fondly of his time at Carleton: “The spirit of the place shone through right when I arrived. I found the breadth of willingness to debate and consider and the total engagement with the intellectual world stimulating, and it made the place feel so welcoming.”
When asked about his favorite memories, Edwards shared of his time exploring campus and the Arb: “I remember one evening the temperature was well below zero as I was skiing past the Hill of Three Oaks, and I thought, “This has got to be the most beautiful place in the world.” I also remember with great fondness teaching my son to ride his bike on campus. My family and I loved the open-sky Midwestern atmosphere of Carleton.“
Edwards married Blythe Bickel Edwards in 1988 in Paris. He was predeceased by his wife, who died in 2024, and by his son, Nicholas Hazard Edwards, who died in 2011. He is survived by his daughters, Elizabeth “Eliza” Hazard Edwards and Daphne Hazard Edwards, and by his grandsons, Oliver Skye Rodgers, Dominic Dylan Delong-Rodgers and his wife, Autumn, and by his sister, Barbara Edwards Hicks, and her husband, Paul, according to the college. Edwards embraced Blythe’s children as his own and is survived by this extended family as well: Jonathan Kaufmann and his wife, Katherine, and their children, William, Grant, and Elizabeth, and William Kaufmann and his son, Lorenzo Kaufmann Albano.
A graveside service for Edwards will be held next year in Edgecomb. Arrangements are under the direction and care of the Strong-Hancock Funeral Home, 612 Main Street, Damariscotta, ME 04543. Condolences, and messages for his family, may be expressed by visiting: www.StrongHancock.com. To learn more about Edwards’ life, we invite you to read his obituary and explore his wikipedia page.
Comments
So sad to hear that one of the great trees of Carleton has fallen. Bob Edwards was a wonderful president from a student’s perspective. We would eagerly await his erudite announcement of President’s Day. He took seriously the question of how to deal with sexual misconduct on the part of faculty against students earlier than many liberal arts presidents. He brought a serious and fun approach to all he did and his presence in the world will be missed.
I was a member of the Presidential Search Committee that recommended Bob Edwards to the board. He was clearly a remarkably able candidate, and we made the right decision. Once here, with me as the elected President of the Faculty, he and I did not get on terribly well. But I came to recognize him as a superior president with whose style I felt uncomfortable. His accomplishments show how accurate that assessment of him was. He proved to be a major factor in Carleton's subsequent assessments as one of the top leading liberal arts colleges in the country--we owe him a lot!
I was on that search committee with Perry Mason, and I also remember being hesitant about the committee’s vote for Robert Edwards. I am proud to say that I confessed that to him, once he assumed the role of President, and that he quickly proved to me how slow I had been to grasp his perfect fit for the role he assumed. He brought to the job a wonderful combination of wisdom, humor, and imagination that served Carleton beautifully. Thank you, Bob!
Bob was president when I was hired at Carleton. His obvious intellect and grand vocabulary were intimidating, but he rightly commanded respect from faculty, staff, and students. He really did a lot of good for Carleton!
I was sad to hear of Bob Edwards' passing. He was a wonderful President, and his idea of what a college education can do for a person is so important and, sadly, not as prevalent these days. I have tried to live my life according to the ideals he represented.
I’m sorry to hear of President Edwards’ passing. I have a lovely pair of memories of him. One Spring day (I think in 1984?) a friend and I happened to be walking past Nutting House, the President’s residence. He was outside teaching his then-young son how to ride a bike. We witnessed the key moment when Nick got the trick of balancing. Nick laughed, President Edwards cheered, and so did we. As it happened, later that same day the President and his wife hosted a gathering for students in Nutting House. He recognized me when I arrived, noting that we had shared that joyful moment. It was a small, sweet exchange and for some reason I’ve never forgotten it.
I am sad tonight to be reading about Bob Edward’s passing. He handled the position of Carleton President with grace, intelligence, and a sharp wit. As an example of the latter, a member of my graduating class did an uncanny, merciless impression of him for four years. At our graduation, President Edwards had the unsuspecting provocateur met at the end of the stage by a local police officer and walked off in handcuffs. It was priceless.
He also gave me my first campus job as a bartender for special events at Nutting House - the President’s residence - even after it was found I had seriously and unintentionally over-served about 80 college staff on my first go. He wrote a reference for my inaugural job out of Carleton (it worked). And lastly (though there are more), Bob Edwards sat next to me in chapel in front of a raucous student crowd when I was reluctantly participating as part of the Homecoming court (as only Carleton could pull off). One member of the “court” passed a bottle of whisky down the row and when I tried to give it in turn to Bob for a swig, he just gave me a wry smile and said under his breath, “Thank you so much, but, no, I don’t think so.” Of course. How silly of me. He was an intellectual giant, inspirational, and purposeful, yet playful. I’m sad he’s gone. He was a good man.
President Edwards was a giant among leaders for me. He led by example and encouraged a sense of reverence even in the most irreverent of environments, among students with egos and inclinations to question leadership. In addition to the toasts above from many more eloquent students and professors that I, my experience co-hosting the homecoming festivities one year led me in you youthful exuberance to tell an off-color joke about President Edwards. When I later tried to apologize in private, he put his arm around me and encouraged me to continue to use humor and irreverences. His shadow was long for me and many others. He will be missed.
I had the amazing privilege of babysitting for the Edwards’ children throughout my years at Carleton (1978-1982). Time spent with their family meant the world to me as a very young student (I was 16 my freshman year) far from my Massachusetts home and ill prepared for the non-academic aspects of college life. I knew their family in the smallest yet most touching moments of their lives: kisses after pajamas were on, drying kids’ tears as Mom and Dad prepared for a night out, sweet and silly nicknames, promises of favorite desserts when their parents returned. Bob’s quick wit, deep intellectual curiosity, ability to pose questions that I still think about nearly 50 years later, and his staunch belief in the lifelong value of a liberal arts education were known by many.
I feel deeply honored to have known him in his off campus role as husband and father. His kindness, shown through tender words or a well timed hand on the shoulder when I needed it most, offered me refuge as my confidence grew to match my academic abilities. For four years, my times at Nutting House let me relax, be silly, help the girls with homework and Nick as he mastered new skills, and have a respite from college life. Time with Eliza, Daphne, and Nick helped me decide to pursue advanced studies in education.
Although I’ve lived in Maine for 30 years now, I never made it up to visit Bob at Bowdoin. I’m sure if I had, we’d have had a fantastic conversation and wonderful memories to share.
President Edwards was pure class, so his wit and sense of humor shocked me. Another shock was when he would call me by name throughout my four years at Carleton when we had never been introduced. I am very sad to hear of his passing -- what a great, great man who I have and will always look upon with respect. God bless, President Edwards!
In 1977, President Edwards, along with Joe (Ick) Lee and I were incoming freshmen. In a ‘why not’ moment, Joe and I invited him to have lunch with us at Goodhue. He accepted! After getting past the discomfort of getting our food and sitting down - on my part at least, not his - I remember realizing what a kind and empathetic person he was. I am grateful for the day, all due to the fact that Bob Edwards was genuinely interested in our experience, as it turns out we were in his. Thanks Bob!
Bob Edwards
Dear Bob: The poignant reflections from your Carleton fans stirred memories of your many kindnesses to me. You are/were a great man and I make a deep bow to you of respect, admiration and gratitude. Selected recollections:
* You took the time to meet with me (an anxious Religion major worried about jobs and careers) in your office; you gently convinced me of a bright future (brighter than I could have imagined thanks to you and so many teachers at Carleton).
* The Science Technology and Public Policy Concentration you creates turned out to be excellent preparation for a fascinating global business career launching innovative health care technologies: My ability to quickly master new knowledge domains and communicate with both science and business leaders demonstrates the powerful value of a liberal arts and sciences education.
* You sacrificed time with family to came to Chapel on a Sunday morning to hear my sermon on “wonder in a broken world” and shook my hand and uttered “well spoken!”
* I remember the whimsy and joy in your face at commencement when you urged us new graduates to “let the rumpus begin!”
* Finally, at the 2016 Commencement, you graciously invited my wife and I to have breakfast with you and Blythe for a thoughtful discussion of a moonshot idea I had for a new college in Asia; you even mailed me your original proposal for an undergraduate college in Pakistan.
We did not know each other well but these connections live within me to this day. You are/were a man with a cool head and a warm heart. Thank you and Godspeed, Craig
Not only did he LOOK the part, the Attikus Finch in him helped us all wend our way around and through a great many campus, town and larger issues, including South African divestiture. He offered wise counsel to me, personally, when I was a newbie on the College Council, basically asserting to me, rightly, that not every campus matter was a windmill that needed tilting against! He was a mentor -- I'll miss him.
While I never had the opportunity to be exposed to Bob Edwards, my generation of Carls had a similar experience
with Larry Gould. In fact, I believe that Carleton has been blessed over the years with having had leaders who are
" what's right for the times"; President Brierley, appears to me, to carrey on that tradition. Could it be that Carleton attracts what is needed, when it is needed?
During my four years at Carlton, I truly enjoyed the wonderful attitude that President Edwards had towards our student activities. During those years we had a “Be nice to Chase Turner day”. To celebrate four years of that unofficial campus day, I went with trepidation to the president‘s office to see if he would have lunch with us. He did, and he paid for it. What could be better as a student than having the president buy your friend his lunch.
I was too terrified as a student to get close to Bob, butso appreciated the Science, Technology & Public Policy program he created and supported. Tim Brunner and I were among the 16 or so students in the inaugural STPP seminar spring of 1977 - it launched quickly - taught by David Maitland, Barry Casper, and Norm Vig. As a young person who saw the world thru an engineer's eyes, I was really touched by these new (to me) questions of whether we *should* do something in the tech realm -- who benefits, who pays, what are the unanticipated risks? 2 memories from that seminar that Bob empowered:
- being tapped to represent Carleton at a midwest conference on STPP at the Rose Hulman Institute of Technology (Indiana). I'll never know how or why I was chosen, but was grateful for the experience.
- our final seminar project (Tim and I) was to see if we could design workable nuclear weapons using only declassified information from the Manhattan Project. In this pre-internet time, we relied a lot on inter-library loan for our totally aboveboard, blessed by the faculty project. My FBI record originated from this research, when someone in the U of M library system became concerned about what those kids at Carleton were doing.! Thank you, Bob, for helping launch my life-long career of being an informed rabblerouser aka holding a critical curiousity toward what government and big industry were doing.
This saddened me. I babysat for the Edwards’s and also cared for their plants when they went away during summer breaks. I am also heart broken to hear of little Nicholas’s passing.
I loved them.
I first knew Bob during his tenure as President of Bowdoin College, but only had brief professional contact. He and Blanche bought a seasonal home near me in Stonington, ME around the turn of the 21st century. On one occasion we started talking about his reflections on the differences in the college cultures of Carleton and Bowdoin. He was complimetary to both institutions for their academic strengths, but I was struck by his comment that Carleton students were, above all, serious students of their chosen fields of study, less interested in pursuing wealth and status in Wall Street or the world of finance.