Former Archivist of the United States Robert Warner Passes Away

On Tuesday, April 24, 2007, Dr. Robert M. Warner, sixth Archivist of the United States, died after a long battle with cancer.

Dr. Warner served as Archivist of the United States from 1980 through 1985, leading the agency during one of the most important periods in its history: the transformation from a division of the General Services Administration (GSA) to an independent executive agency.

His four-year fight for independence was won on October 19, 1984, when President Ronald Reagan signed legislation that removed the National Archives from GSA and renamed the agency the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

After leaving the National Archives, Dr. Warner returned to the University of Michigan, where he began his career in the History Department and the School of Information and Library Studies. He served as dean of the School of Information from 1985 to 1992.

Prior to becoming Archivist, Dr. Warner also chaired the planning committee of the Gerald R. Ford Library, and later served as secretary of the Gerald R. Ford Foundation. During his career, he served as the president of the Society of American Archivists (SAA), the Historical Society of Michigan, and the Second European Conference on Archives, and on the boards of the SAA, the American Historical Association, and the American Library Association. Dr. Warner was a Distinguished Fellow of the SAA.