Video by Pam Stevenson, Agave Productions Inc., for the Historical League
Lattie Finch Coor, Jr., Phoenix, served as the fifteenth president of Arizona State University from 1990 until 2002. Born in Phoenix, he was the son of elementary school educators in Avondale, where a school is named after his father. Coor graduated with honors from Arizona State Teachers College in Flagstaff in 1958. He pursued graduate studies in political science at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, earning a master’s degree in 1960 and a Ph.D. in Political Science in 1964.
Following his graduation, Coor was an assistant to the governor of Michigan and then held positions at Washington University, including vice chancellor. Named president of the University of Vermont at age thirty-nine, he served there from 1976 until 1989. The Arts and Sciences administration building and an endowed chair at the university have been named in his honor, in recognition of his exceptional accomplishments.
Coor returned to Arizona in 1990 as president of Arizona State University. His leadership, vision, and determination led the way for ASU to be named a Research I university by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in 1994.
A capital campaign under Coor’s leadership raised more than four hundred million dollars and created the opportunity for expansion of university programs and campuses. Coor believes that improving the quality of undergraduate education was his most important achievement while at the helm of Arizona State University. The Lattie F. Coor Hall was built on the main campus of Arizona State University in 2004, with twenty-five classrooms, lecture halls and seminar rooms, and was named in honor of the former president.
In 2002, Coor retired as president of ASU. Today he is President-Emeritus, Professor and Ernest W. McFarland Chair in Leadership and Public Policy in the university's School of Public Affairs. “I was particularly pleased to be appointed to the McFarland Chair,” Coor explains, “for I believe Governor/Senator/Chief Justice McFarland was a far greater figure in the history of Arizona than many people realize. The appointment was especially meaningful to me because I had known him when I was in college. It inspires me in my teaching and in the work to which our Center is committed. ”
Through his active involvement in the metropolitan Phoenix area with community-based organizations, and business organizations such as Arizona Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Coor built many enduring relationships. As a reflection of his involvement in the community, he has received many awards, including from such diverse groups as the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Greater Phoenix Urban League, The American Jewish Committee, The Anti-Defamation League, and the Phoenix Community Alliance.
After retiring as ASU president and with the desire to give more back to his native state, Coor co-founded the Center for the Future of Arizona. As chairman and CEO, Coor leads a multi-year, state-wide effort to create a citizen’s vision for Arizona. Entitled The Arizona We Want and based on the Gallup Arizona Poll, the report sets forth eight goals that Arizonans throughout the state want for Arizona’s future including education, job creation, civic engagement, and community involvement. Coor noted, “Our recent celebration of Arizona’s Centennial made it clear that Arizonans, from the very beginning, had a clear sense of what they wanted for the future and were willing to work hard to make it happen. Our intent with The Arizona We Want and our Center’s mission is to ensure that we all commit to making it happen.”
Lattie and his wife Elva, whose roots both go back to Territorial days, continue their love affair with Arizona through hiking, horseback riding and cycling. They completed the 814 mile Arizona Trail from Mexico to Utah in August 2008.
