On Feb. 8, Garrett had announced she had been diagnosed with colon cancer and would pursue aggressive treatment under the care of a team of doctors at Weill Cornell Medicine.
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“This is truly a loss for the university community and to all who knew her”, she said.
“Beth was simply a remarkable human being – a vibrant and passionate leader who devoted her life to the pursuit of knowledge and public service”, Harrison said.
In a statement offering his condolences, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo described Elizabeth Garrett as a visionary leader.
Cornell University via Youtube Inauguration of Elizabeth Garrett as the 13th president of Cornell University, held September 18, 2015 on the Arts Quad. Garrett earlier taught law at the University of Chicago.
Elizabeth Garrett, Cornell University’s president, died March 6.
She was the first woman to be named Cornell’s president.
Despite Garrett’s presidency only lasting a few short months, many say her legacy will last for many years to come.
In her inaugural address, she said “it is the process of learning and acquiring wisdom that is paramount”.
“I… think it’s important for strong women to be lifted up, because they can be role models, not only to younger women, but to all people”, Garrett said in an October 2014 interview not long after she was chosen for the Cornell job.
She described how she planned for the university to focus, in the upcoming months, more intensely on both the residential undergraduate experience and on defining, as a community, the shared intellectual experience all Cornell students should encounter.
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Garrett was appointed to the provost and senior vice president position at USC in October 2010. “She did that every day of her life, from her clerkship at the Supreme Court, to her research on direct democracy, to her compassion for making Cornell great”. She always made it very clear how deeply proud she was to be leading Cornell University and to have the incredible opportunity to strengthen one of the world’s leading universities at such an important and exciting time.
