By George P. Shultz Former U.S. Secretary of State (1982-89) 
Currently Distinguished Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University

[Honorary Wells Trustee Edmund Wattis Littlefield, a prominent business executive, civic leader, and philanthropist, died on October 27, 2001, in Burlingame, California, at the age of 87. He is survived by his wife, Jeannik Mequet Littlefield '41, who sparked his longtime interest in Wells because she had a very positive experience at the college as a student.

The Littlefields have been generous supporters of Wells for decades and received much attention in 1997 when they pledged $1.2 million in the form of a challenge grant to upgrade and expand campus technology. As a result, a total of $2.4 million was raised. Their gift is recognized in college history as being the catalyst that brought Wells firmly and permanently into the Information Age. More recently, the Littlefields have been generous supporters of the campaign to build a new science building.

He was born in Ogden, Utah, on April 16th, 1914, and graduated with great distinction from Stanford University in 1936, a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and earned his MBA from Stanford in 1938. During World War II he served as an officer in the U.S. Navy and with the Petroleum Administration for War.

He joined the Utah Construction Company as financial vice president and treasurer in 1951 and became general manager in 1958. During the time he served as the company's principal officer, that organization was transformed from one of the leading heavy construction and engineering firms to an international natural resource company engaged in mining, petroleum, ocean shipping, and land development with major operations in the United States, South America, Canada, and Australia.

In 1976 the company, then known as Utah International, Inc., merged with General Electric Company in a deal valued at $7.2 billion, then the largest in U.S. Corporate history. At that time Utah had become the most valuable and profitable of all mining companies headquartered in the United States.

Mr. Littlefield served on numerous corporate boards of directors including Bechtel Investment Company, Birmingham Steel, Chrysler Corporation, Del Monte Corporation, Federated Department Stores, FMC Gold, General Electric Company, Hewlett Packard Company, and Wells Fargo Company. The Management Center at the Stanford School of Business bears his name. He served on the Wells Board of Trustees since 1994; Mrs. Littlefield joined at the same time and remains an honorary trustee.

He also served as a Stanford University trustee, a regent of the University of San Francisco, president and director of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, director of the California State Chamber of Commerce as well as the San Francisco Symphony.

He was the recipient of many awards including the Lone Sailor Award from the U.S. Naval Foundation, Member of the National Mining Hall of Fame, the Alexis de Toqueville Society Award from the United Way, International Statesman Award from the San Francisco World Trade Club, Stanford Athletic Board Achievement Award, Ernest C. Arbuckle Award from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and the 1977 Award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews.

Mrs. Littlefield was born in France and prior to World War II attended the International School in Geneva, Switzerland, where her father worked for the League of Nations. She attended the Sorbonne before completing her education in the United States and spent her senior year at Wells, earning her degree in 1941. The Littlefields established an endowed scholarship to ensure financial support for international students at Wells. They were inspired to make this particular gift because Mrs. Littlefield received a scholarship from the college that enabled her to complete her bachelor's degree, and she wants young women to have the same opportunities she had. (She then went on to attend graduate school at Mills – staying faithful to the women's college tradition.)

Mr. Littlefield is also survived by his three children and six grandchildren.]

I. Fellow Friends of Ed Littlefield, Jeannik, Denise, Eddie, Jacques,

Ed Littlefield loved you deeply with a special directness and tenderness.

He was so proud of you - he reveled in your triumphs and suffered with you any setbacks.

In this sense and many others, I could easily see that he was your friend as well as husband or father.

II. The fact that this church is overflowing is warm testimony to Ed's unparalleled capacity for friendship.

He was universally liked and respected.

When you walked down River Road with Ed at the annual Bohemian Grove encampment, you couldn't get from A to B because so many people wanted to talk to Ed - with a greeting, a joke, a story, a reminiscence, or an "Ed, what do you think about this?"

III. Friends asked Ed for advice on matters large and small.

And we all learned: Never ask Ed's opinion unless you were ready to hear exactly what he thought.

Not combative or abusive ... but certainly clear, with his special and gifted way with the English language.

IV. And boy, was he a clear thinker - with an unusual gift for moving easily back and forth between ideas and operating reality.

His business acumen is legendary.

But he could apply his capacity for clear thinking and management ability to all sorts of tasks that came to suit his fancy.
Captain of our camp at the Grove.
Helping the Bohemian Club keep its accounts.
How to run a duck club.

V. He loved Stanford and he loved the Bohemian Club. He asked that this memorial be at Stanford and then later, a special show at the Club.

He also loved golf and duck shooting.

When it came to priorities among sports, I got a lesson a few years back when I called him with an invitation to a Stanford football game. There was dead silence at the other end of the phone. Finally, in tones of disbelief came the reply: "George, don't you know that is the date of the opening of the duck season?!"

VI. And Ed had tremendous integrity in everything.

I remember once asking him why he seemed so down on a certain individual. "I saw him improve his lie in the rough." Out 'a here!

VII. I come back to friendship.

"Friendship is different from all other human relationships. Unlike acquaintanceship, friendship is based on love.

"Friendship is freely entered into, freely given, freely exercised. Friends glory in each other's successes and are downcast by their failures. Friends minister to each other. Friends give to each other, worry about each other, stand always ready to help. At its height, friendship is an ecstasy."*

[*Stephen B. Ambrose, author of Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West, Copyright 1994]

Ed, I will always be grateful for the gift of your friendship - one of the greatest gifts a man can receive.

I miss you terribly but you will always be with me because the depth and quality of your friendship transcends time and place.

Thank you, Ed, and may God be with you.

Delivered November 9, 2001 at the Stanford Memorial Church.