Well-earned retirement

Charles L. Shearer has certainly earned a nice retirement. Like many in Lexington, though, we hate to see him go.

Shearer, who announced this weekend that he plans to retire next year as president of Transylvania University, has done an outstanding job.

His longevity — 27 years when the average presidential tenure in higher education isn't much more than eight years — attests to what a fine match he and Transy have been.

Well known are the remarkable strides that the college has made under Shearer, in the size and quality of both the student body and the physical campus.

In fact, Transy has come so far that it's hard to remember that there was an air of precariousness about the place when Shearer came on board 30 years ago, as vice president of finance, to wrestle a budget that had drifted into the red.

Shearer became the fourth president in little more than two years at a time when Transy had fewer than 700 students, compared with around 1,100 today. He brought stability and much more.

There are a lot of reasons Shearer has been so effective, not least of which is his affable and unflappable temperament. He is a genuinely kind person.

He's also a consummate educator, someone who relishes teaching and mentoring young people.

It seems odd that focusing so intently on education would make a university president stand out. But in this age of the corporate university model, Shearer's dedication to teaching, and all that implies, distinguishes him and Transy.

The college has also benefitted from philanthropy, that of the late William T. Young in particular, but also Humana founder David Jones and his family and the late Mary and Barry Bingham.

Plenty of worthy causes compete for the generosity of the wealthy. Transy would not have done so well in this regard if it wasn't offering something of real value.