Today in Smithsonian History: September 19, 1994

A statue of first Smithsonian Secretary Joseph Henry oversees the installation of I. Michael Heyman as Secretary of the Smithsonian. (Photo by Richard Strauss, as featured in the Torch, October 1994)

September 19, 1994 I. Michael Heyman (1930 – 2011) becomes the tenth Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

Heyman, a law professor and chancellor at the University California at Berkeley, served as the tenth Smithsonian Secretary from 1994 to 1999. Born in 1930 in New York City, he received the JD from Yale Law School after serving as a US Marine Corps Officer in the Korean War. Before returning to academia to teach, Heyman worked as a law clerk for Chief Justice Earl Warren. He then accepted a law professorship at Berkeley and remained there for over twenty years. In 1990, Heyman was appointed to the Smithsonian Board of Regents and remained in his post until he took on his role as the Institution’s Secretary in 1994.

Ira Michael Heyman, tenth Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, seated, was elected at the May 25, 1994, meeting of the Board of Regents. Heyman, a lawyer, was counselor to Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt. He also served as deputy assistant for policy at the Department of the Interior. He is best-known for his 10-year term (1980-1990) as chancellor of the University of California at Berkeley. (Photographer unknown, as featured in the Torch July, 1994)

Courtesy of Smithsonian Institution Archives

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