Larry McManus
Professor of Biology (1960-84)
Presented on September 5, 1995, by Ernest H. Williams, Jr., professor of biology
Lawrence Robert McManus was a member of this faculty for 24 years. From the time he arrived on College Hill in 1960 until his retirement in 1984, he served the College with distinction as a devoted teacher of biology. We remember him with deep respect.
Larry McManus was born in 1921 in North Bergen, New Jersey. One year after high school, he entered the army and served in the U.S. Signal Corps throughout the Second World War, spending much of that time in Australia. After the war, Larry entered Cornell University, from which he received a Bachelor’s in 1949 and a Master’s in 1951. Then he taught at the high school level for three years and at Orange County Community College for another three years before returning to Cornell in 1957 to continue his graduate work. In 1960, Larry received a Ph.D. in animal ecology based on his work with crayfish, and that same year he began his Hamilton career. He was promoted through the ranks, becoming a full professor in 1973 and serving as Chair of the Biology Department in the early 1980’s. He helped prepare the department for the major changes that took place soon thereafter. Larry helped found Hamilton’s chapter of Sigma Xi, the scientific research society, and served on various committees at the College. Following his retirement in 1984, he and his wife moved to Forty Fort, Pennsylvania, where, until illness claimed his life this spring, he gardened avidly in a somewhat better climate than Clinton had afforded, took great interest in nutrition, and volunteered at a local library.
We remember Larry not for these biographic details but for the loves of his life, teaching and nature. As one former colleague described him, Larry was the backbone of this institution, a solid and dependable teacher and advisor. He spent all his time and energy on his students and courses - introductory biology, ecology, marine biology, and invertebrate zoology - not as a buddy to his students, but as a devoted mentor. To ensure that students would always have live animals to study, Larry kept an old claw-footed bathtub in a dingy recess of the Science Building basement, and twice yearly he added tree leaves to feed the soil arthropods that lived in it. More than one new biologist was startled to touch the leaves in that bathtub and see hundreds of white dots - more properly known as collembola - start hopping from leaf to leaf. His hard work in this and other ways paid off in the scores of students who were very fond of him. That respect was reflected in an incident a few years ago, when two biologists in Philadelphia collaborating on a project discovered that they had both gone to college in Clinton, New York, and had studied under and admired greatly a professor named McManus. Soon thereafter, Larry was surprised and pleased to receive a copy of their published paper and find that it was dedicated to him.
Larry characterized the very best of old-style biology. He loved nature and poked around in it enough to know what living organisms could be found near here - in the Rome Sand Plains, Root Glen, the Oriskany Creek, and local bogs and fields. As the most broadly trained biologist in the department, he was the person one would go to have a plant or animal identified or any biological observation explained. With his daily cup of soup in hand, he was a genuinely supportive colleague who helped other faculty in their teaching. And after his retirement, as each new organismal biologist came to Hamilton, Larry would write and send detailed lists and descriptions of what plants and animals could be found in different places. He used his biological background in cultivating his highly productive garden, too.
The legacy of Larry McManus lives on at Hamilton in tangible ways. After years of effort, he succeeded in having the College run water from a spring on Griffin Road down to the Science Building, where he created an indoor stream. That stream remains a landmark feature of the building, usually with turtles in it and occasionally some of Larry’s favorite crayfish. Also, for several years in the 1970’s, he took students to the Florida Keys over spring break, and it was during these excursions that he developed a significant collection for his course in invertebrate zoology - a course known on campus as “bugs and slugs.” Corals, molluscs, starfish, and many other specimens remain at the College as Larry’s gift to future generations of biologists.
His love of nature led him to be concerned about it, too. As the college’s ecologist until 1984, Larry was a devoted conservationist and served as an early trustee of the Central New York Chapter of the Nature Conservancy. He understood the value of what we now know as biodiversity, and he taught about it and lived his personal life accordingly as well - long before the first Earth Day.
Larry McManus died on March 5, 1995, leaving his wife Pat and his daughters Edie and Alice and their families. We remember Larry with deep respect – for his teaching and love of nature, with appreciation for his hard work for the College, and with thanks for his gifts to past and future generations of Hamilton students. He would be delighted to see how many people continue to benefit from what he left behind.
