IN the death of its Senior Vice-President, the University has lost not only one of its most valuable officers, but one of its sincerest supporters. Louis C. Madeira was first elected a Manager of the Museum in 1912, and in 1917 he was elected a Vice-President. Yet his connexions with the Museum’s early endeavours, especially in Babylonian archaeology, antedate his official appointments by many years.
At all times wise, far-seeing and appreciative, Mr. Madeira did much to guide the development of the Museum along lines that have lead to supremacy. It was his particular ability to decide whether a project were merely of spectacular and not permanent importance, that caused his opinion to be respected greatly by the Board. This ability may well be described as business-sense: it is a quality not easy to find, and particularly valuable to a public institution.
To stress, however, only Mr. Madeira’s executive ability were to overlook his tangible assistance to the Museum along other lines. There is, in fact, a considerable group of objects now included in the collections which owe their acquisition to Mr. Madeira’s generosity. He was always willing to contribute towards a worthy project and was not concerned whether or no his name was listed with those of other donors.
To those of a younger generation it will always be a particular satisfaction to realize that one had an opportunity to know Mr. Madeira and to appreciate his fine, distinctive qualities.