Durham, NC - Former Duke Provost and Chancellor John O. Blackburn passed away Jan. 16 at his home in Durham.

During his long tenure at the university, Blackburn helped raise the stature of both Duke and its economics department. "Blackburn was the department chair who recruited the (then) young turks - Graham, Salkin, Black, Havrilesky, McElroy, Weintraub - who with their "young" elders Yohe, Treml, Davies, Kreps, Goodwin, Naylor, and Vernon reconstructed Duke Economics," said Roy Weintraub, professor of economics. "And it was Blackburn who saw the department, and then the university, through its demographic transition, and put it on track for ‘excellence.' It was quite an accomplishment."

Blackburn was born September 13, 1929 in Miami. He graduated from Miami High School in 1947 and from Duke University in 1951. He received a Ph.D. from the University of Florida in 1959, and later that year joined the faculty of Duke as assistant professor of economics.

During the 1969 student protest crisis, Blackburn was one of the university leaders who helped run the university. When Terry Sanford became president, he appointed Blackburn as provost in 1970. He also served as chancellor from 1971-76.

John O. Blackburn

One of his legacies as chancellor was the creation of Central Campus, which at the time provided much needed student residence space, restructured Duke's undergraduate tuition finances and promoted a marketing plan.

"Blackburn kept tuition and fees below those institutions for a period, so that at such later time we were positioned to make major faculty recruitments, we would then have financial flexibility to do it, while in the meantime our lower tuition meant that our applicant pool was getting larger and larger and larger," said Weintraub, a longtime colleague of Blackburn's in the economics department.

He retired to Maitland, FL in 1980 to pursue his research interests in energy economics.

"Jack Blackburn was a loyal and devoted member of the Duke community," said economics Professor Craufurd Goodwin. "He was a delightful person with a marvelous sense of humor. Through his work as an applied economist he made us aware of the dangers that we face in our environment."

He served as volunteer treasure of his church, and of the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra. He was active on the board of the U.S. Foundation for the University of the Valley in Guatemala.

In 2005, he returned to Durham, where he lived at the Forest at Duke and recently completed studies showing the practicality and viability of alternative energy for North Carolina.

He was preceded in death by his parents; a stepmother, Themla F. Blackburn, and a sister, Ione B. Reiner. He is survived by his loving wife of 53 years, Jeanne Miles Blackburn of the home; his daughter, Katherine Spalding and husband Jon of Dillsburg, Pa.; his son John P. Blackburn and wife Sherra of Raleigh, NC; his son David Blackburn of Salt Lake City, UT; grandchildren Benjamin, Jon Blackburn, and Zachary Spalding; step-grandchild Sydney Smith; two nieces and one nephew.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Forest at Duke Benevolent Fund, 2107 Pickett Rd., Durham, NC 27705; or to the John and Jeanne Blackburn Performing Arts Fund, Duke University, Box 90581, Durham, NC 27708.

Arrangements by the Cremation Society of the Carolinas, www.cremationsocietync.com.