Former UVa dean Whitehead dies at 85

Walter Dexter Whitehead Jr., a longtime University of Virginia dean and professor of physics, died Tuesday after a long fight with prostate cancer. He was 85.

Whitehead joined UVa’s physics department in 1956 and eventually became dean of the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, a position he held from 1969 until 1982.

He was a member of UVa’s faculty for 36 years, retiring in 1992. In the mid-1970s, he received the university’s highest honor, the Thomas Jefferson Award.

“Dexter Whitehead’s vision, drive and diligence were often cited as a key factor in the university’s rise in academic achievement, prestige and research funding during the second half of the 20th century,” UVa President John T. Casteen III said in a statement.

In addition to his nearly four decades in academia, Whitehead was an accomplished artist. Following his retirement from UVa, he spent much of his time painting in a studio behind his Crozet home.

Among his favorite subjects were UVa architecture and landscapes from around his summer home in Tenant Harbor, Maine.

Examples of his work are on display in the Garden Room on the West Lawn at UVa and at the Best Western Cavalier Inn on Emmet Street. His paintings were recently selected by the U.S. Department of State for display inside embassies in Mali, Turkey and Kenya.

As a physicist, Whitehead was known for his research into neutron-scattering experiments and photonuclear reactions. He was an early leader in the Southeastern Universities Research Association, a consortium that operates the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Newport News.

He is survived by his wife of 13 years, Lois Gibson Whitehead; his sister, Constance Kiermaier of Norwalk, Conn.; two sons, Oliver Day Whitehead of Portland, Maine, and Thomas Kenyon Whitehead of Charlottesville; and four grandchildren.

In his later years, Whitehead remained a strong advocate for excellence in higher education, his wife said. Contributions in his

memory are asked to go to the Dexter Whitehead Graduate Fellowship Fund of UVa’s College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences.

He also remained interested in current events such as the stumbling economy and the oil crisis, his wife said.

“He’s a visionary,” she said. “He thinks the big thoughts. He asks the big, hard questions. He worries about the world.”