Carey Croneis was born in 1901. He served as the fifth president of Beloit College from 1944 through December 31, 1953, resigning to become the first Wiess professor of geology and provost of Rice University in Houston, Texas. Having established the geology department there, he was the university’s chancellor at the time of his retirement in March 1970. He died at age 70 in Houston on January 22, 1972.

A native of Bucyrus, Ohio, Dr. Croneis was known as a patron of the arts, world traveler, civic servant, author and lecturer. His numerous academic honors in the arts and sciences included the highest award in professional geology, the Sidney Powers Memorial Medal.

A graduate of Denison University, Croneis had a Master’s degree from Kansas University and a Doctorate from Harvard, teaching there and at Wellesley while completing post-graduate studies. He began his career in 1928 at the University of Chicago, where he served until coming to Beloit.

His activities were both numerous and varied, including service as chief of the basic sciences division for the Century of Progress Exposition in 1934, as conductor of geological surveys in Illinois, Arkansas and Kansas, as designer of the geology section of Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, as curator of paleontology at the Walker Museum, and as consultant to the National Defense Research Committee.

President Croneis assumed the helm at Beloit College in the last year of World War II and proceeded to lead it in meeting the challenges and exigencies of a post-war society. With enthusiasm and skill, he vigorously recruited a young faculty to meet the demands of a growing student body and an expanding curriculum, and he directed restoration of buildings and equipment which had deteriorated because of wartime restrictions and the construction of such new facilities as Centennial (now Aldrich) and Maurer residence halls, two fraternity houses, and the Field House.

Dr. Croneis presided over the year-long festivities marking the College’s centennial in 1946–47. Under his administration, Beloit’s reputation prospered through its enhanced role in anthropology, art, theater, athletics, the sciences, and the humanities, and enrollment reached its highest levels in history.

Genial in his personal relationships, the President had a particular affection for each incoming class and annually composed a poem to celebrate its arrival. Assuming an important role in the city’s business and social life, he also instituted the Community College, which enrolled many adults for special courses. All his efforts brought the community of Beloit into a closer relationship with the college, making the institution a living and breathing part of the city and the area for many miles around.

In Houston, Dr. Croneis served as chairman of the city’s Museum of Contemporary Art and of the Charter Commission, as vice president of the National Space Hall of Fame, a trustee of Kincaid School, and as a director of the Natural History Museum, the Symphony Society, the Council of World Affairs, and the Chamber of Commerce.

Returning to Beloit in 1968 for the dedication of the College’s new Science Center, Dr. Croneis presented a magnificent appreciation of the career and contributions of Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin, for whom the facility is named. His last visit came a few years later when he participated in the celebration of the College’s 125th anniversary, at which onlookers remarked that his enthusiasm and vigor were as vibrant as of old.