Jerome H. Supple personal papers and memorabilia

Southwest Texas State University inaugurated Dr. Jerome Supple as its eighth president in 1989. He served for 13 years as president until his retirement in 2002. While in office, he implemented many changes such as higher admission standards, an unprecedented increase in research funding, and the addition of the university's first doctoral programs. He oversaw the addition of several new buildings to campus such as the health Sciences Building and the Student Recreation Building. President Supple also initiated the university's acquisition of Aquarena Springs in 1994.

Supple was born April 27, 1936, in Winthrop, Massachusetts and grew up in Boston. He earned degrees in chemistry at Boston College, a PhD in organic chemistry at University New Hampshire and did a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley where he met his wife Catherine. They had three children: James, Andrew and Paul. He then worked as a various roles as a professor and administrator in the State University of New York System for ten years until moving to Southwest Texas State. Supple enjoyed pick-up basketball, golf, snow skiing, fly fishing, and folk music. He played the banjo in a folk band with his wife called “The Newton Street Irregulars.”

Supple passed away January 16, 2004 due to prostate cancer.