Illinois College mourns the death of former President Jimmy Carter

1.08.2025

The Illinois College community is saddened to learn about the loss of President Jimmy Carter H'14.

The 39th U.S. president visited Illinois College in 2014 at the invitation of Khalaf Al Habtoor H'10 and the late Congressman Paul Findley '43 H'73. Carter spoke to a crowd of more than 2,600 people who filled Sherman Gymnasium in Bruner Fitness and Recreation Center in a speech titled "Waging Peace." The three men and their shared dedication to global peace were welcomed by the College, whose vision is to build an international reputation for inspiring achievement and empowering students to make a difference in the world.

"Thank you, Dr. Al Habtoor, my good friend, and also my new friend, President Barbara A. Farley and all of the trustees and professors and students of this wonderful college," Carter opened his speech. "It's a great honor for me to be here. I have heard for many years about the wonderful work this college has done since its founding in 1829.

"I was discouraged and a little bit embarrassed that it's older than any college in Georgia," he joked to applause from the energized crowd.

The College conferred a Doctor of Humane Letters honoris causa upon Carter for "his lifelong pursuit of peacemaking around the world," and he expressed pride in being made a brother of Phi Alpha Literary Society ahead of his speech, the 17th Annual Phi Alpha Lecture.

"President Carter exuded warmth and a compassionate spirit that was remarked on by everyone who met him," Farley recalls. "His visit to Illinois College was truly remarkable and is a day that will live on in my memory and the annals of IC's almost 200-year history."

Carter's Illinois College speech was open to the public, but extended well beyond the Hilltop to a worldwide audience through streaming and extensive media attention. News outlets from more than 100 cities in 38 states covered the convocation. Internationally, the video was viewed on the IC website from countries including Australia, Canada, Germany, Guam, Kuwait and Al Habtoor's home country, the United Arab Emirates.

The former president joins other notable campus visitors including Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, Gwendolyn Brooks, Richard Dreyfuss and Corretta Scott King. Additionally, both Ronald Regan and Barack Obama spent time on the Hilltop prior to being elected president.

Carter served from 1977 to 1981 and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 "for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development."

While in office, Carter brokered the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty, normalizing relations and ending armed conflicts that had begun in 1948. After leaving the White House, his accomplishments included establishing The Carter Center to focus on global peace-keeping efforts.