Former professor dies at age 82

Former zoology Prof. Clement Markert, best known to the University community for his suspension from the faculty after refusing to cooperate with a congressional investigation into Communist activities during the 1950s, died of cancer Saturday at the age of 82.

"He had many other achievements and it saddens me that people only remember him for that. No one seems to want to remember what else he did," said Margaret Markert, the professor's widow.

The controversy surrounding Markert began in May 1954 amidst the mass paranoia of the Red Scare in which Republican Wisconsin Sen. Joseph McCarthy led a nationwide search for anyone associated with Communism.

The Red Scare spread to the University via Michigan native and U.S. Rep. Kit Clardy. Clardy, a McCarthy sympathizer and member of a subcommittee to the House Un-American Activities Committee, began a search for Communist activity at the University.

Clardy called Markert and two other University professors, Chandler Davis and Mark Nickerson, to testify before the HUAC subcommittee. Upon the professors' refusal to answer questions regarding their political affiliations, University President Harlan Hatcher suspended all three pending a "thorough investigation by the University."

The University then terminated Davis and Nickerson's faculty positions, while Markert, was re-instated with the support of the faculty governing body, the College of Literature, Science and the Arts and the zoology department. Markert left the University soon thereafter.

Those close to Markert said they would like him to be remembered for things other than his suspension from the University because of his alleged Communist ties.

Considered an expert in the field of biological research, Markert was the co-chair of the Developmental Biology Interdisciplinary Cluster for President Gerald Ford's Biomedical Research Panel in 1975. He also was elected president of many prestigious biological associations, including the American Institute of Biological Sciences and the Society for Developmental Biology. Prior to these activities, Markert served as the chair of the biology department at Yale University from 1965 to 1971.

In 1991, the Academic Freedom Lecture Fund organized a series of annual lectures at the University to honor Markert, Davis and Nickerson. The University has held the lecture series, "The Davis, Markert, Nickerson Lecture on Academic and Intellectual Freedom" for the past nine years.

Peggie Hollingsworth, who helped to organize the series, also feels Markert should be remembered for his academic achievements.

"He was an outstanding man. He had a brilliant career in spite of the unfortunate incidents surrounding his alleged political views," Hollingsworth said.

"I would like him to be remembered as a scholar," she continued, "as a man who cared about society and who contributed to making the world a better place."

10-13-99