The University of Texas at Austin community mourns the loss of former acting university president William S. Livingston, who died Aug. 15 at the age of 93.
“Bill Livingston embodied all the best qualities of a university leader: erudition, eloquence, sweeping vision, warmth and good humor,” says President Bill Powers. “The University of Texas is a better place for his lifetime of service. He was an inspiration to generations of Longhorns, and we all will miss him.”
An Ohio native and World War II veteran, Livingston earned the Bronze Star and Purple Heart in the Battle of the Bulge. He came to UT Austin in 1949 as a government professor and spent the next six decades teaching and serving the university in various roles, including chair of the Government Department, vice chancellor of academic programs, and vice president and dean of graduate studies. In 1992, he served as acting university president.
Livingston was also beloved by more recent alumni as the baritone voice of TEX, the 1990s telephone registration system, from which he signed off each call with “Goodbye and good luck.”
Watch Livingston’s video series on the Origins of the U.S. Constitution: