Timothy Light, a well-known Kalamazoo academic and philanthropist, died Dec. 14. He was 87.
His career included stints as provost at both Western Michigan University and Kalamazoo College, and he was K-College’s acting president in 1989-90.
Light was an expert on China and East Asia. In 2010, his family donated $1 million to WMU to establish the Timothy Light Center for Chinese Studies.
A statement from WMU said that Light’s legacy “continues to shape the mission and work of the Timothy Light Center for Chinese Studies, which for the past 15 years has helped WMU students and professors advance research and teaching about China while also bringing world-renowned scholars to campus.”
“To many students, he was more than a professor; he was a mentor who went above and beyond to ensure their success,” the statement said. “Dr. Light’s contributions to the university and to the broader community were profound and will be felt for generations to come.”
A great-grandson of W.E. Upjohn, founder of The Upjohn Co., Light had an illustrious pedigree. He was born in 1938 to Richard Upjohn Light, a prominent neurosurgeon, and Rachel Mary Upjohn, first cousins who were both among the 11 grandchildren of W.E. Upjohn. In the first years of their marriage, Richard and Mary Light were pioneer aviators in the 1930s who photographed the African continent from the air. The couple had four sons before they divorced.
In addition to being a prominent neurosurgeon, Richard Light served as Kalamazoo College board chairman for a time and helped pioneer the college’s study-abroad program. K-College’s Light Fine Arts Building is named in honor of the Light family.
Meanwhile, Mary Upjohn Light remarried and became Mary Meader. She and her second husband were major benefactors of Kalamazoo’s arts and education communities.
Timothy Light was born and raised in Kalamazoo, and earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Yale University in 1960. He met his wife, Joy, while on a Yale study abroad program in China. The couple initially lived in New York City, where Light enrolled at the Union Theological Seminary and then Columbia University.
The Lights returned to Asia in the 1960s, where Light worked as a teacher and administrator at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and where their two daughters were born.
In 1971, Light started a doctoral program in linguistics at Cornell University, earning his degree in 1974. He taught Chinese for six years at University of Arizona and then for another six years at Ohio State University, where he chaired OSU’s department of East Asian languages and literature.
He returned to Kalamazoo in 1986, becoming the Kalamazoo College provost from 1986 to 1989 and its acting president in 1989-90. After a year as president of Middlebury College in Vermont, he returned to Kalamazoo in 1992 and served as Western Michigan University provost until 2000, when he returned to teaching.
In recent years, Light was professor emeritus of Chinese religion at WMU.
Timothy and Joy Light were also known for the philanthropy and community activism. In 2017, the couple were awarded the Rotary Club of Kalamazoo’s Red Rose Citation for their community contributions.
“Both have been amazing stewards of our community, both through their philanthropic resources that have helped a number of our artistic and human services nonprofits, but also for the wisdom they’ve provided appearing on numerous boards,” Bryan Zocher, president of the Rotary Club of Kalamazoo, said at the time.
The Lights are credited with bringing the Education for the Arts program to the Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency, and were recognized for their volunteer work at the Washington Writers’ Academy, in the Kalamazoo Public Schools’ “Bagels and Books” program and with Family & Children Services.
In addition to the Chinese center at WMU, the Lights have been major benefactors of the Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival and the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, which has the Joy Light Gallery for Asian Art.
Michelle Hargrave, executive director of the KIA, said in a statement that Light made “a lasting and profound impact on the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts and our community. He was more than a patron—he was a thoughtful advocate for the museum, a mentor to many, a visionary, and a steadfast champion of the arts.
“Through Tim and Joy Light’s friendship, generosity, and commitment to cultural understanding, the KIA and Southwest Michigan became a recognized center for East Asian art, expanding direct access to the arts of China, Japan, and Korea for generations. Tim was admired by so many for his intellect, curiosity, warmth, and quiet generosity, and he will be deeply missed,” the statement said.
In his acceptance speech for the Red Rose Citation, Timothy Light spoke of “the two Kalamazoos” — “the one to which we here belong. That is the Kalamazoo which provides more opportunities to enjoy high quality music, theater, dance and all kinds of visual art per capita than probably anywhere else in the country. That is also the Kalamazoo which provides more personal philanthropy and volunteer hours per capita than probably anywhere else in the country.
“The other Kalamazoo is marked by poverty, homelessness, unemployment, incarceration, school failure, and a host of health problems. It is this Kalamazoo which sadly mirrors the trends of a significant proportion of America’s cities, except that our statistics are worse than average,” he said.
“We will need to agree that both of our two Kalamazoos are integral parts of who we are, and when we speak of ourselves, we will need to be boldly frank in embracing both,” he said in that speech.
Langeland Funeral Homes handled arrangements, details of which were not available at posting time.