Leroy Hubert Millikan

1985

Roy Millikan, the oldest of the Sigma Delta Chi charter members, was born June 17, 1880, in Monrovia, Indiana. He worked on DePauw’s weekly paper and then on the DePauw Daily, becoming its editor in 1908-1909. He was a leader in the Press Club and was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity. Perhaps either in reference to his age or punning on the journalist’s materials, his senior yearbook quotes him as saying, “My days are in the yellow leaf.”

Millikan was active in newspaper work and writing for a few years before he began a career in social work. He was principal of the Indiana State School for the Blind in 1912-1913 and headed the Children’s Division of the State Charities Board from 1913-1936. In 1937 he was appointed head of child welfare work in Indiana under the State Department of Public Welfare.

He also taught welfare classes at DePauw, Butler and Ball State and was a prominent worker for the Red Cross. He retired in 1954 after six years on the Marion County Welfare Board.

Millikan maintained his interest in Sigma Delta Chi throughout his life and was often speaker for public and private occasions, speaking about the journalism fraternity and its history. He died August 29, 1959, in Indianapolis.