Ruth C. ‘Chris’ Royer, college official

Ruth C. “Chris” Royer, a former McDaniel College trustee who had held several academic positions at Barnard College in New York, died Nov. 5 at New York-Presbyterian/ Weill Cornell Medical Center after a brief illness.

The former Carroll County resident was 89.

The daughter of Jesse Christian Royer, president of Smith & Reifsnider Lumber Co., and Ruth Helwig Royer, a homemaker, Ruth Christine Royer was born and raised in Westminster, and she graduated in 1944 from Westminster High School.

Miss Royer — who never used her first name — was known as “Kicki” during her college days at what was then Western Maryland College, now McDaniel. She graduated summa cum laude in 1948, and then obtained a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

She taught English at Penn Hall Junior College in Chambersburg, Pa., Connecticut College in New London and Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa.

Later, she joined the faculty at Barnard College as a part-time teacher while studying for her doctorate at Columbia University on a Danforth Fellowship.

At Barnard, Miss Royer served as director of admissions, associate dean of the faculty and vice president for public affairs before retiring in 1993.

After retiring, the New York resident maintained a connection with the college as the reading editor of the Barnard College-CBS Essay Contest.

She was named a trustee of McDaniel College in 1994 and served until 2016, when she retired. She supported the school’s Royer Faculty Development Fund that benefited research, and also endowed the Jesse and Ruth Royer Scholarship for students.

In a statement announcing her death, McDaniel’s president, Roger N. Casey, said Miss Royer had served as a “continual source of guidance, encouragement, inspiration and friendship” for the college’s administration, faculty and staff.

In 2013, she was awarded an honorary degree during commencement and urged graduates to “embrace change … change that will benefit mankind.”

“She was a role model for anyone who met her,” said Joyce Muller, former associate vice president for communications and marketing at McDaniel and a longtime friend. “She was a great, great woman.”

A memorial service for Miss Royer will be held from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Feb. 11 in the Baker Memorial Chapel on the campus of McDaniel College.

There are no survivors.