The ASERL community is saddened by the recent loss of Paul Willis, a true champion of ASERL. Paul held leadership positions in research libraries for many decades, including the University of Kentucky Law Library starting in 1966 and then Dean of Libraries at UK from 1973 – 2002. His “retirement gig” was as Dean of Libraries at University of South Carolina through 2007. He passed away in early December 2024 at the age of 83 following a prolonged illness.
Paul was a giant in research library circles of his era. In the late 1990s he was instrumental in in charting a new path for a (then) very disorganized ASERL. His soft-spoken nature oftentimes belied his tremendous influence. Through his intellect and powers of persuasion, he and Paul Gherman (Vanderbilt) convinced a very skeptical group of research library deans that regional collaboration was possible. He went on to serve on ASERL’s Board of Directors and in numerous committee leadership roles. More recently, both Pauls (Willis & Gherman) participated in our oral history program – their interviews can be found at https://www.aserl.org/history/.
Paul Willis played an incredibly important role in the arc of ASERL’s history. ASERL would be a very different organization today — if it existed at all — were it not for his efforts, which many thought would be impossible to achieve. We offer condolences and wishes for serenity to all who were lucky enough to know him. May they find solace in happy memories.