John Poindexter Collection

John W. Poindexter (1925-2011) graduated from Vanderbilt in 1946 and earned a master’s in English from the university two years later. After serving two years in the Army during the Korean War, he went to work for Houghton Mifflin publishers in Boston from 1952 to 1971. While at Houghton Mifflin, he organized the Boston Vanderbilt Club and was a director-at-large of the Vanderbilt Alumni Board of Directors. He also served as national chairman for Vanderbilt’s Living Endowment Campaign. Poindexter returned to Vanderbilt in 1971 as vice chancellor for alumni and development affairs. He then became vice chancellor for alumni affairs and director of the Vanderbilt University Press. Other positions included alumni secretary and conservator of university history. Poindexter was a member in good standing of “The Old Goats Club,” a group of Vanderbilt leaders that included Chancellor Alexander Heard. The John W. Poindexter Book Acquisition Fund was established in the Jean and Alexander Heard Library system at the time of Poindexter’s retirement in 1993 in recognition of his lengthy service to Vanderbilt.