Professor James Morley

Ruggles Professor Emeritus James Morley died September 27, 2020. He was 99 years old.

Professor Morley was an authority on international politics in the Asia Pacific region and Japanese foreign policy. He was a model and mentor to generations of students throughout his long tenure at Columbia, which began in 1954 and lasted until his retirement in 1991.

In addition to his research and teaching work, Professor Morley served as chair of the Department of Political Science from 1975 to 1978 and served for three separate terms as director of the East Asian Institute at Columbia (renamed in 2003 as the Weatherhead East Asian Institute). 

Professor Morley's government service included work as chairman of the U.S. Educational Commission in Japan and special assistant to the U.S. ambassador to Japan in 1967-69. In 1967, he also was a consultant to the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare for implementation of the International Education Act of 1966. He was a consultant to the Department of State from 1970 to 1973 and in 1976 he was Bicentennial Lecturer to Japan on the invitation of the Fulbright Commission, the International House of Japan, and the Japan Foundation. He was active in the Japan Society, the Asia Society, and the Council on Foreign Relations and he served on committees of the United Nations Association, and the Atlantic Council of the United States. 

Please click here to read a tribute from the Weatherhead East Asian Institute.