F. Champion Ward, 96; helped mold selection process for ‘genius awards’

F. Champion Ward, 96, an educator and senior consultant to the board of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation who played an influential role in determining how the “genius awards” are selected, died July 2 at his home in North Branford, Conn., the New York Times reported.

Ward, the father of historian Geoffrey C. Ward, helped create the system by which hundreds of nominators from across the country submitted names to panels of experts set up by the foundation. Those panels evaluate and cull the nominations to establish candidates for the final selection process.

According to the Times, Ward once told the journal Foundation News & Commentary that the use of nominators “reflected my respect for Major League Baseball’s scouting system.”

Under the program, about 25 people are granted the so-called genius awards each year, giving them $500,000 over the next five years. The awards, which come with no strings attached, allow the recipients to pursue their respective interests.

A native of New Brunswick, N.J., Ward earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Oberlin College and a doctorate at Yale. His academic career included posts as dean of the undergraduate humanities division at the University of Chicago and chancellor of the New School for Social Research in Manhattan.

He also worked for the Ford Foundation. His relatively short but influential tenure at the MacArthur Foundation ran from 1978 to 1981.