Edwin Elderson, Ex-Dean of Floating Campus, Dies

Edwin G. Elderson, a Chapman College professor for 22 years and former dean of the school’s World Campus Afloat program, died at Coastal Communities Hospital in Santa Ana Sunday of lung cancer.

Elderson, 63, was also director of the college’s Center for International Studies and a French professor, according to college spokesman Jerry Derloshon.

The World Campus Afloat program took Chapman students on tours to foreign ports while giving them an education in liberal arts aboard ship. Derloshon characterized the program as giving the college prominence until 1975, when it was deemed unprofitable and consequently canceled.

Taught Aboard Ship

Elderson also taught on the ship for his first 11 years on the campus--the entire duration of the program.

“Over the years, he made the foreign languages come alive for Chapman students,” Chapman President G. T. Smith said. “To me, he symbolized the international dimension of the college. His presence on the campus will indeed be missed.”

Elderson, who headed the international studies program for two years, was a native of Lexington, Ky., and lived in Orange. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in 1943 from the University of Kentucky, and then served in the Navy during World War II.

He was awarded a master’s degree in 1949 from the same university and got his doctorate in 1971 from the University of Toulouse, in France. Before going to the privately owned Chapman in 1964, he taught for 18 years at Transylvania University in Lexington.

Elderson had successfully battled cancer 10 years ago, but it had reappeared recently, Derloshon said.

He is survived by his wife, Lois, and eight sons and daughters, ages 21 to 37. Memorial services have been scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday at the college’s chapel, on the corner of Maple Avenue and Grand Street in Orange. The family has suggested that all donations in his name be given to the college’s general fund or the charity of the donor’s choice.