Dr. V. Ray Cardozier (1923–2014)

CardozierLSU Press mourns the passing of Dr. V. Ray Cardozier, professor emeritus of higher education administration at the University of Texas at Austin, who died on November 2.

A native of Louisiana and a 1947 graduate of LSU, Dr. Cardozier served at several universities, authored many books, and honored LSU Press with a most extraordinary gift.

In 1994, Professor Cardozier established an endowed fund to “support the publication of scholarly books of merit that might not otherwise be publishable because of limited markets.” Books could come from a variety of fields, including history, biography, social sciences, public affairs and natural sciences.

The V. Ray Cardozier Fund has supported the publication of over 50 books in the past 20 years. They range in subject matter, but each one has benefitted from the generous gift of one man who wanted to make a difference and to strengthen LSU’s commitment to scholarly publishing.

Cardozier Fund recipients’ comments:

Having my edition of Anthony Benezet’s antislavery writings brought to print by LSU Press was the realization of a 20-year dream. The excellence of the Press’s editing and promotion staff made the resulting book far more satisfying than even I could have hoped.
David Crosby, ed. The Complete Antislavery Writings of Anthony Benezet, 1754-1783: An Annotated Critical Edition

For me, it has meant the satisfaction on seeing my book in print after years of thinking about the subject. And because my book is on Lincoln, it has I hope generated some conversation about the meaning of liberty, equality, and democracy, all things I am sure Mr. Cardozier (whom I never met) valued.
John Barr, Loathing Lincoln: An American Tradition from the Civil War to the Present

The publication Delta Empire with such a distinguished press exposed the book to a much larger readership than would otherwise have been possible. More importantly, funding from the V. Ray Cardozier fund made it possible to price the book at a rate that would permit teachers to assign it to both undergraduate and graduate classes, extending the book’s readership even more.
Jeannie Whayne, Delta Empire: Lee Wilson and the Transformation of Agriculture in the New South

The publication of my book was the culmination of a several years-long effort to address an important aspect of pre-Civil War U.S. economic history: the role of the federal government in stimulating economic growth and development. My approach was necessarily quantitative, which made the eventual book more of a challenging read than I might have wished and, therefore, not likely to have seen publication without Mr. Cardozier’s endowment of LSU Press. I am profoundly grateful.
Paul Paskoff, Troubled Waters: Steamboat Disasters, River Improvements, and American Public Policy, 1821–1860

I am very grateful to Mr. Cardozier for his generous support of LSU Press. My first book with LSU helped land me a tenure track job, and my second book should help me get tenure. His support of the Press has been instrumental in the advancement of my career.
Jonathan White, Emancipation, the Union Army, and the Reelection of Abraham Lincoln and Abraham Lincoln and Treason in the Civil War: The Trials of John Merryman

To see the final product, a result of many years of hard work preparing and researching and writing and editing a project of mine, finally in print and with a gorgeous cover, was one of the proudest moments of my life.
Aaron Astor, Rebels on the Border: Civil War, Emancipation, and the Reconstruction of Kentucky and Missouri

Publishing my book with the help of the V. Ray Cardozier Endowment at LSU Press allowed me to present more than ten years of research to a broader public than I ever would have realized through other means. Additionally, publication proved my professional development so that I not only earned a promotion, but also I found that other resources became available to me to help with my future research, as a result of my first publication.
Michael Gagnon, Transition to an Industrial South: Athens, Georgia, 1830–1870