Edward McCord, former senior lecturer and director of programming for the David C. Frederick Honors College — who was instrumental in the acquisition of a 4,700-acre site for the Wyoming Yellowstone Field Studies program under founding Dean Alec Stewart — died Feb. 23, 2026.
“Ed’s impact on the Frederick Honors College was beyond formative — it was profound,” said Nicola Foote, dean of the Fredrick Honors College. “Nowhere was his passion more evident than his coordination of our Wyoming Field Studies Program, where his vision and generosity helped create transformative opportunities for students to engage deeply with the landscape, history and community at the Allen L. Cook Spring Creek Preserve.
As director of special programs, he advanced several of Stewart’s signature initiatives, Foote said, “providing opportunities for intellectual curiosity, cultural exploration, civic engagement and mentorship — which still root and guide our honors programmatic values today.
“His legacy will be of passion and deep commitment to experiential learning, which shaped the lives of generations of Pitt Honors scholars past and present through experiences he championed outside of the classroom.”
Charles E. Jones, faculty member in the Department of Geology and Environmental Science in the Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences, team taught a course with McCord for several years, “Environmental Ethics, Science and Public Policy.”
Jones remembers his own lectures as “diagram-heavy … but Ed could more extemporaneously deliver his lectures. He had the ability to carry people along, to get them seeing what he was seeing and get them excited about what he was excited about.
“He was warm, friendly, outgoing, voluble,” Jones said. “He was very enthusiastically positive about things. His skill at making the story gripping” made students remember his lessons. “He had boundless enthusiasm for the eccentricities of different species. He really found the idiosyncrasies of each species endlessly fascinating. I feel like I remembered things from the way he spun a tale.”
Jones recalled hearing McCord tell of a wild creature — a young opossum, Jones believes — that McCord found as a child and raised, but had to release when it grew to full size. He told Jones it was heartbreaking to watch it walk straight into the woods without looking back. But it taught McCord that “we bring our own feelings to nature. And it isn’t necessarily true that those feelings are reciprocated. They remind us to step back a little bit, to love, treasure, preserve the natural world, but be objective about it.”
The value of McCord’s Yellowstone and Spring Creek classes were evident, Jones said: “It wasn’t just that it was a cool experience that undergraduates could have. It was the premier experience you could have as an undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh.”
Edward Leroy McCord was born on July 18, 1950, in Tallahassee, Fla. He earned his A.B. in philosophy from Princeton (1972) and three degrees from Pitt: an M.A. in cultural anthropology, a PhD in philosophy, and a J.D.
His 2012 book, “The Value of Species” (Yale University Press), posited that all species possess intellectual and moral value beyond whatever market value humans place upon them. For years at the Spring Creek Preserve he led students through the study of dinosaur fossil beds and environmental law. He established the Ed McCord Experiential Learning Fund to aid students in future field-based work.
Former Chancellor Mark Nordenberg recalled his “partnerships and friendship” with Ed McCord across nearly 40 years, including times as McCord’s law professor. Nordenberg also was central in recruiting McCord to serve as director of the Dick Thornburgh Forum, “even while he continued shouldering significant responsibilities in the David Frederick Honors College. Ironically, when Ed confidentially approached me some years later to say that he was contemplating retirement but wanted to ensure that the Dick Thornburgh Forum would be effectively led in the future, I became his successor in that role. He also came out of retirement to organize a trip that I made to the Allen Cook Spring Creek Preserve in Wyoming, something that I had not been able to do as chancellor.
“Ed McCord was a person of great ability, strong values and a warm human heart,” Nordenberg said. “I honestly do not know of anyone who had dealings with Ed who did not like and respect him and feel better for having been involved with him.”
He is survived by sister Betsy (Jack) Kelly; brother Guyte (Beverly) McCord; and many nieces, nephews and cousins.
Memorial gifts are suggested to the Ed McCord Experiential Learning Fund.
— Marty Levine