ROBERT WILLIAM ELDER (1957-2026)

Professor Robert William Elder came to Beloit College in 1989. From the beginning he demonstrated his capacity to make complex concepts in economics both clear and exciting. Students noticed and flooded to his classes. Few if any Elder courses have had small enrollments. The Nobel Prize winning James Tobin, Professor Elder’s mentor at Yale, once told this writer (in 1997) that Mr. Elder was the best natural teacher he had ever worked with. This is not to say that he has not also done a good portion of scholarly work, most especially but not confined to economic development in post-Cold-War Eastern Europe. He studied and collaborated for long periods on the scene in both Lithuania and Poland, working on joint ventures with economists in both countries. Recently he has been writing a textbook on sports economics. 

His administrative work has been exemplary, not only serving on important faculty governance committees but also chairing his department. He has also been a fine contributor to the college’s long interdisciplinary tradition, teaching first year courses in game theory and sports economics.  His forte has always been mathematical economics. He team-taught a course with the present writer on the functions of math in the humanities and on the intersection of game theory, rhetoric, and diplomacy in international crises such as the one in Cuba in 1962.  

All of this–the brilliant instruction, the varied research, the college service, and the multidisciplinary work–are both necessary and sufficient for grasping Professor Elder’s excellence. And yet it does not capture the person, Bob himself, whose demeanor at the college and as part of the community has been singular. While the rest of us might have on occasion given grudging service, Bob never did. He showed up and on time, even early, for everything from presidential scholarship competitions to memorial services. Living a life of skilled intellectual reason, he was always a role model to many of us, students and colleagues alike. Bob has always taught us the Aristotelian truth that happiness lies in the pursuit of fine quality in life and work, rationality and service. Unfailingly kind and stimulating, he has left a shimmering and positive mark on the college he loves. As one of Bob’s best students, Jasminka Milpak ’98, put it succinctly, “what a wonderful man; what an incomparable teacher.”  

His administrative work has been exemplary, not only serving on important faculty governance committees but also chairing his department. He has also been a fine contributor to the college’s long interdisciplinary tradition, teaching first year courses in game theory and sports economics.  His forte has always been mathematical economics. He team-taught a course with the present writer on the functions of math in the humanities and on the intersection of game theory, rhetoric, and diplomacy in international crises such as the one in Cuba in 1962.  

All of this–the brilliant instruction, the varied research, the college service, and the multidisciplinary work–are both necessary and sufficient for grasping Professor Elder’s excellence. And yet it does not capture the person, Bob himself, whose demeanor at the college and as part of the community has been singular. While the rest of us might have on occasion given grudging service, Bob never did. He showed up and on time, even early, for everything from presidential scholarship competitions to memorial services. Living a life of skilled intellectual reason, he was always a role model to many of us, students and colleagues alike. Bob has always taught us the Aristotelian truth that happiness lies in the pursuit of fine quality in life and work, rationality and service. Unfailingly kind and stimulating, he has left a shimmering and positive mark on the college he loves. As one of Bob’s best students, Jasminka Milpak ’98, put it succinctly, “what a wonderful man; what an incomparable teacher.”