Fall/Winter 2007

Guiler’s passion for Miami students lives on in bequest

There is no more noble a life than one spent touching the future through the inspiration and education of young minds. Thus is the legacy of Dickinson “Dick” Guiler `49, whose genuine concern and passion for his students spanned a more-than 40-year career in education and left in its wake the countless lives he touched.

Guiler passed away in 2001, but through a long history of selfless giving to his alma mater, including a final bequest of more than $1.8 million dollars, his passion for education and students continues to profoundly impact Miamians. At present, there are 13 scholarships in the Guiler family name lending support to more than 30 Miami University students. The scholarships impact a wide range of students, including those studying education and English, as well as minority students and many others. His philanthropy began in 1958, when he and his mother funded the first of three Scholar Leader Rooms to honor his late father.

While his financial generosity would lead to numerous scholarships that have benefited more than 100 past and present Miami students, Guiler’s genuine concern for the students as individuals set him apart. He would regularly arrive on campus to take his scholarship recipients out to lunch, or a hockey game, or theatre event. Guiler stressed the importance of education but also of being involved and well-rounded, and he saw his students through to graduation, even requesting a copy of the commencement program to verify their accomplishments.

Born in Chicago but raised in Oxford, Guiler grew up in a household where education was a constant theme. His father, Walter Guiler, class of 1909, was a professor in Miami’s School of Education and Allied Professions, and his mother, Lorena Thetford Guiler, was a 1915 graduate of Oxford College. Guiler graduated from McGuffey High School in 1943 and served two years in the U.S. Army Air Corps as a cryptographer before returning to Oxford to attend Miami.

An active and successful student at Miami, Guiler graduated magna cum laude with a degree in English Literature in 1949. Along the way, he was selected to Phi Beta Kappa and elected president of Phi Mu Alpha, a music fraternity for men. He also was active in Glee Club, Choral Union, Minnesingers, and Kappa Phi Kappa, an education fraternity. Guiler would later earn two master’s degrees from Columbia University.

In 1950, Guiler was hired by West Carrollton City Schools to teach English at the junior and senior high schools. Five years later, he was named principal of Walter Shade Elementary, and in 1961 he was named assistant superintendent of schools for West Carrollton. Guiler served with distinction in that position until his retirement in 1987, coordinating teacher and pupil personnel duties, public relations, and tax levy campaigns. He was a recipient of the West Carrollton Education Association Award of Merit and, after his retirement, was inducted into the West Carrollton City School District Distinguished Service Hall of Fame.

Guiler was a leader and visionary in the field, serving two terms as the president of the Western Ohio Education Association, one term as the Ohio Education Association president, and as a member of the National Education Association Board of Directors. He served on the Commission for Improvement of Education in Ohio, as a chairman of the Legislative Committee of the Ohio Education Association, and as a vice chair of the Ohio Council for Education. He also served Miami as an adjunct faculty member.

As a loyal Miami alumnus, Guiler served on the Alumni Association Board of Directors, the Miami Committee on the Naming of Facilities, the School of Education and Allied Professions Advisory Council, and as an Alumni Ambassador and a member of the Class of 1949 Reunion Committee. He was a recipient of the Robert Hamilton Bishop Medal in 1964 and the School of Education and Allied Professions Distinguished Service Award in 1972.