Sallyportal: Madly Blogging Reed

Was James Beard really a Reedie?

By Chris Lydgate '90 on May 10, 2011 12:09 PM
beard.jpg

The latest James Beard Awards have just been announced, and it's nice to see that Mark Bitterman '95 won in the scholarship category for his book about salt.

The Beard awards typically prompt a flurry of interest in the epic gastronome himself. Last year, I was absently grazing on canapés at a gala function in Old Town when, somewhere in between the niçoise olives and the goat cheese, I got embroiled in a conversation about him.

When I innocently mentioned that James was a Reedie (he would've been class of '24), my conversational partner grew agitated.

"How can Reed claim that James Beard is an alumnus?" she asked, brandishing a glass of pinot noir. "Didn't he get kicked out for being gay?"

The answer to the second question is pretty straightforward. According to biographer Robert Clark, James was expelled during his freshman year at Reed after having affairs with "one or more male students and a professor." So yes, he was kicked out for being gay--a clear victim of prejudice.

The answer to the first question is more complicated. James's time at Reed seems to have made a deep impression on him. He cut a dramatic figure on campus, won a prize for a Halloween costume in full drag, was elected as the treasurer of the freshman class. Many years later, in 1976, Reed presented him with an honorary degree as a way to atone for the sins of the past. Still, one wonders. Was he bitter?

A few months ago, I put that question to Portland lawyer (and trustee emeritus) Morris Galen, who represented James for the last 15 years of his life and helped draft his will. "There's no doubt that Jim was expelled from Reed," Galen told me. "But he wasn't the kind of person to dwell on that. He held no animosity at all, not when I knew him. He felt very good about Reed, and was thrilled when he was awarded an honorary degree."

In fact, after his death in 1985, James bequeathed the bulk of his estate to Reed, including his private collection of his own cookbooks, and set up the James Beard Scholarship Fund, which supports students who otherwise could not afford tuition.

It's hard to think of a more eloquent testament to his affection for the college. Since James embraced Reed, it's only fair that we give him a big bear hug in return.

Tags: alumni

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