Frederick Binder, 83; Educator Led Whittier College

Frederick Moore Binder, who served as president of Whittier College in the early 1970s when the institution added its law school, has died. He was 83.

Binder, who headed the Whittier school from 1970 to 1975, died Jan. 28 in a medical facility in Hershey, Pa., after having pneumonia.

He left Whittier to take the presidency of Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pa., from 1975 until his retirement in 1986.

During his tenure at Whittier, Binder was credited with leading the acquisition of the former Beverly Law School in Los Angeles and turning it into the Whittier College School of Law in Hancock Park. He also supervised completion of the Lillian A. Slade Aquatic Center and the Richard P. Ettinger Jr. Faculty Center and development of the Stauffer Art Center (now Deihl Hall) on the Whittier campus.

Binder arrived at Whittier after a year as associate commissioner for higher education of New York state, shortly before National Guard shootings of students at Kent State University in Ohio spurred anti-Vietnam uprisings on campuses across the country. Urging nonviolence, he addressed his students: “There is no such thing as a just or unjust war; all wars are stupid, mean and immoral. As rational beings, raise your voices in protest if you must, but raise your hand against no man or you defeat the very purpose of your concern.”

The educator wrote several books, including a spy mystery, “Serbian Assignment,” in 1971, and histories, including “Coal Age Empire” in 1974 and “James Buchanan and the American Empire” in 1994.

Born in Atlantic City, N.J., Binder was educated at Ursinus College and the University of Pennsylvania and was the commander of a PT boat in the Pacific during World War II. In addition to Whittier and Juniata, he was president of Hartwick College in Oneonta, N.Y., and acting president of Thiel College in Greenville, Pa., where he taught history. He began his career teaching history at a New Jersey high school and then taught at Temple University in Philadelphia.

Survivors include his wife, Grace, and two daughters, Janet and Roberta.