University Times

Morris S. Ogul, professor emeritus of political science, died April 6, 2008. He was 76.

Ogul joined the Pitt faculty in 1957 and retired in 1998. He was among the leading scholars on the American presidency and legislative oversight of the executive branch of the federal government. He authored or co-authored several textbooks used in political science courses.

Ogul received his undergraduate degree from Wayne State University and master’s and doctoral degrees in political science from the University of Michigan.

At Pitt, Ogul chaired the political science department, 1980-84, and received the Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 1985. He served on the provost’s advisory committee on undergraduate programs, 1996-99.

Colleague Jonathan Harris, who joined the department in 1966, remembered Ogul as extraordinarily warm and supportive to new faculty as well as being a “dramatic, powerful and extremely effective lecturer,” in spite of a diffident, quiet exterior. “You could never say this man was self-serving in any way,” he said.

“He was very, very popular with students, and for good reason,” Harris said. “He was very sympathetic to Pitt undergrads,” recognizing that many of his students were working while attending school.

Harris said Ogul was looked upon in the department as “a reasonable man par excellence” noting that Ogul was counted on to devise rational solutions in the rare events when departmental disputes arose.

Fellow professor emeritus of political science William Keefe, who co-authored several publications with Ogul, recalled his colleague as “a consummate teacher” who brought out the best in his students. “He discovered potential in them that others had missed and even the students themselves had not fully recognized. The truth is that students never thought their major in political science was complete until they had taken a course or two with Professor Ogul,” Keefe stated.

As a colleague, Ogul was a “thoroughly kind, honorable and thoughtful man — a warm friend and a superb departmental citizen,” Keefe stated.

The two co-authored “The American Legislative Process: Congress and the States,” and “American Democracy,” with four other co-authors. Ogul also authored “Congress Oversees the Bureaucracy: Studies in Legislative Supervision.”

Ogul was preceded in death by his wife, Eleanor Simon Ogul, and is survived by four nieces and nephews.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Dr. Morris S. and Eleanor S. Ogul Fund in care of the University’s Office of Institutional Advancement, 500 Craig Hall.

—Kimberly K. Barlow