Samuel H. Beer, Wilson Center Senior Scholar, Dies at 97

The staff and scholars of the Woodrow Wilson Center mourn the loss of Samuel H. Beer, 97, political scientist and Wilson Center senior scholar, who died April 7 at his home in Washington, D.C.

"In my occasional chats with Sam when he visited the Wilson Center, I found him very engaging and still curious in his eighties and nineties," said Don Wolfensberger, director of the Congress Project. "Like any good scholar, he was always anxious to learn new things and integrate them with the vast wealth of knowledge he already possessed. He was a delightful, 'Mr. Chips' kind of professor. I only wish I had had him as a government teacher."

Dr. Beer's first contribution to the Wilson Center was in 1998, when he coedited and contributed to Welfare Reform: A Race to the Bottom?, published by Woodrow Wilson Center Press. In 2000, Dr. Beer became the first recipient of the Isaiah Berlin Award, a lifetime achievement award given by the United Kingdom's Political Studies Association.

Dr. Beer joined the Center as a senior scholar in 2002, where was in residence until his death. Earlier, he was a political scientist at Harvard University, where he specialized in the government and political party system of Great Britain. During his 40-year tenure at Harvard he chaired the school's government department and published some of his most influential works, including British Politics in the Collectivist Age, a study of the evolution of British political parties.

The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars is the living, national memorial to President Wilson established by Congress in 1968 and headquartered in Washington, D.C. The Center establishes and maintains a neutral forum for free, open, and informed dialogue. It is a nonpartisan institution, supported by public and private funds and engaged in the study of national and world affairs.