The NMU Board of Trustees, and now the NMU Foundation, have sullied the memory of Luther S. West, professor emeritus of biology at NMU from 1938 to 1965. Ignoring decades of dedication to academic research,...

During the last 20 years of his life, I got to know my grandfather Luther West very well, and was even his guardian in his last incapacitated years. I also became aware of his reputation. All who knew him liked, admired and respected him.

I am writing this letter because I believe that I am one of few people alive who knew West well. I grew up with his youngest son and spent as much time at the West house as my own.

Luther West, the namesake of Northern Michigan University’s West Science building, located in the Academic Mall, is under scrutiny after university historian, Dr. Russell Magnaghi, uncovered a past in...