Henry C. Galant, launched Government Department

Henry C. Galant, professor emeritus and founding chair of the Department of Government, died Nov. 16, 2010, from complications of pneumonia.  He was 92.

Born Aug. 1, 1918, in Youngstown, Ohio, Henry was the son of Mary and Walter Galant. The family lived in Chicago during Henry's youth.

Henry started college at Illinois College in Jacksonville, Ill., and then transferred to the University of Illinois.   He earned an A.B. degree in history in 1940.

After four years in the U.S. Naval Reserve in a variety of locations abroad and one year in China with the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, Henry resumed his studies. He earned a Licence s Sciences Politiques from the University of Geneva in 1948. He returned to the U.S. and enrolled at Harvard University, where he earned a master's degree in 1950 and a doctorate in comparative government in 1953.

Henry was a keen student of French government who wrote a seminal study on the French Social Security system that was published in 1955 in Paris. He also wrote numerous articles on French society, including the political party system. He spent a year as a Fulbright Fellow in France in the early 1950s and over the years received research grants from the Societe de Demographie Medicale, the American Philosophical Society, and the Danforth and Mellon foundations, as well as Skidmore College.

In 1985 he was invited to Paris to celebrate the 40 ^th anniversary of the French Social Security system, where he was recognized for his contributions to this area of French social policy.

He was a member of professional and academic organizations including the American Political Science Association, the American Academy of Political Science, the International Political Science Association, the Conference Group on French Politics, and the New York Political Science Association. Henry also was active locally, serving a two-year term on the Saratoga Springs City Charter Commission.

He began his teaching career at Connecticut College in 1953, and a year later he joined the faculty of Skidmore, where he worked until his retirement in 1986. Henry is credited with starting the College's Department of Government and helping it to grow and flourish during the 25 years that he served as chair. He and his late wife, Eleanore, were favorites of Skidmore students - they often hosted dinners and parties for the government majors. One of Henry's initiatives at Skidmore, the Model U.N., continues to send Skidmore students to New York City to learn more about international relations.

Skidmore's Alumni Association recognized Henry in 1984 with an Outstanding Service Award, noting, "he is truly the model from which later generations of faculty members were molded - deeply committed to teaching, to scholarship, to learning for its own sake, to helping in the creation of educated people whose lives and work, whatever their professions, are enriched by their experience with liberal education."

In 1966 Skidmore's faculty honored Henry by selecting him to deliver the Faculty Research Lecture, a presentation titled "The French Doctor and the State." In 1995, the Henry and Eleanore Galant Reading Area was designated in Skidmore's Lucy Scribner Library. In 2004, the Board of Trustees approved naming one seat on the Board in honor of Henry.

Colleagues remembered Henry with respect and affection. Roy H. Ginsberg, Joseph C. Palamountain Jr. Professor of Government, said, "No one better embodied the spirit of Lucy Scribner and Skidmore than Henry and his wife Eleanore. Henry brought to Skidmore a cosmopolitan and international flair, a passion for things French, and a holistic approach to undergraduate teaching - as professor, scholar, mentor, surrogate parent, advisor, host, friend, colleague, and citizen. The legacy of his love for Skidmore is the success of the department he created and the thousands of alumni whose lives he touched in profound ways."

Another longtime colleague, Bob Smith, professor emeritus of government, remarked, "Henry put his life into building the department. When I arrived in 1960 it was a one-person department and less than a decade later, there were nine faculty. Eleanore and Skidmore and its students were Henry's life." Smith recalls that the Galants often hosted student majors and their families for dinners during parents weekend.

When Henry retired, former Dean of the Faculty Eric Weller said, "Always outspoken, sometimes irascible, never unforgiving, Henry's contribution to the College has been to serve as the community gadfly, reminding the faculty when it appears forgetful of its prerogatives and responsibilities, and chastening the administration when it oversteps its prerogatives or neglects its responsibilities. John Gardner could scarcely have found a more loyal and loving critic to assure the vitality and integrity of this institution."

Henry was predeceased by Eleanore, Skidmore's longtime director of publications. They were married 64 years. A niece, Patty Taylor of Minnesota, survives him.

Services are scheduled at 11 a.m. Friday, Nov. 19, at William J. Burke Funeral Home, 628 N. Broadway, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.   Memorial contributions may be made to the Henry and Eleanore Galant Endowed Scholarship Fund, c/o Skidmore's Gift Planning Office, 815 N. Broadway, Saratoga Springs, N.Y. 12866.