Josephine Young Case
The Josephine Young Case refers to the life and contributions of Josephine Young Case, an influential American educator and author, born on February 16, 1907, in Lexington, Massachusetts. She was the daughter of Owen D. Young, a prominent lawyer and industrialist who co-founded the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and had a significant political career. Josephine pursued higher education, earning her B.A. from Bryn Mawr College and an M.A. from Radcliffe College, and later married Everett Needham Case, a respected academic and president of Colgate University.
Throughout her life, Josephine Young Case made notable contributions to literature, publishing poetry and novels, including "Written in Sand" and "Freedom's Farm." Beyond her writings, she was dedicated to education, teaching at Colgate University and New York University, and serving as the director of Bryn Mawr College. A trailblazer in her field, she became the first woman to serve on the board of RCA and held various leadership roles in educational organizations. Her legacy is marked by her commitment to education and her recognition through honorary doctorates and awards. Josephine Young Case passed away on January 8, 1990, leaving behind a lasting impact on both literature and education.
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Josephine Young Case
- Born: February 16, 1907
- Birthplace: Lexington, Massachusetts
- Died: January 8, 1990
- Place of death: Waterville, New York
Biography
Josephine Young Case was born Josephine Young on February 16, 1907, in Lexington, Massachusetts. She was the only daughter and third of five children of Josephine (Edmonds) and Owen D. “Ody” Young (1874-1962), a lawyer-industrialist who founded the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in 1919 and chaired the company until 1933. He was also chairman of General Electric from 1922 to 1939 and served as diplomat at the Second Reparations Conference in 1929—the year he was named TIME magazine’s “Man of the Year”—and was a Democratic presidential candidate in 1932, losing to Franklin Delano Roosevelt at the beginning of FDR’s unprecedented four-term run.
Josephine Young received her B.A. at Bryn Mawr College in 1928, and earned an M.A. from Radcliffe College in 1934. In 1931, she married the Princeton, Cambridge, and Harvard-educated Everett Needham Case (1901-2000), a poet, pianist, and composer who had been assistant dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Business and who had worked in industry before becoming the ninth president of Colgate University (1942-1962). Josephine and Everett were the parents of four children: Josephine Edmonds (b. 1932), James Herbert III (b. 1935), Samuel (b. 1939), and John Philip (b. 1944).
In 1936, Josephine Young Case published in The Atlantic Monthly the poem “I Been Here Before on the Same Errand,” and two years later produced At Midnight on the Thirty-First of March, a book originally written in poetic verse concerning the efforts of a New York village to grasp and cope with the fact that they have suddenly been transported backwards in time. The work would eventually be produced as a radio play (in 1943) and as a musical.
Her other duties would preclude Josephine Young Case from amassing a large body of written work. She taught English for two decades at Colgate University and at New York University (1963- 1964), during which time she published Written in Sand (1945), a novel set against America’s first invasion of North Africa. The following year, she published Freedom’s Farm, a collection of poems. Her other published works include a novel, This Very Tree (1969), and a massive, nearly thousand-page biography of her father, Owen D. Young and American Enterprise (1982), written with her husband and completed late in life.
From 1935 to 1955, Case was director of Bryn Mawr. She was chairman of the Skidmore College Board of Trustees from 1960 to 1971, acting as interim president of the college between the sudden death of Val Wilson in 1964 and the appointment of new president Joseph Palamountain, Jr., in 1965. In 1961, she became the first woman to serve as director of RCA, and was a member of its board of directors and educational consultant from 1962 to 1972. She was also on the board of the Fund for Advancement of Education (1965-1967), a member of the President’s Advisory Committee on Foreign Aid (1965-1970), an executive with the National Book Committee (1964-1970), and a trustee of the American Assembly. For her work, she received honorary doctorates from Elmira College, Skidmore College, St. Lawrence University, and Colgate University, and the Bryn Mawr Alumnae Award. Recognized more for her long and dedicated service to education than as an author, Josephine Young Case died January 8, 1990.