George D. Langdon Jr., former president of Colgate University and the American Museum of Natural History, died Sunday, Dec. 11, in Fall River, Mass., at age 78. 

A member of The Kresge Foundation’s board of trustees from September 1988 through June 2002, Langdon was a historian specializing in the politics and economic development of the American colonial period.

As a Kresge board member, he provided a wealth of expertise in nonprofit organization. President and CEO of the American Museum of Natural History from 1988 until 1993, Langdon also offered broad perspective including, but not limited to, higher education.

The foundation then made challenge grants, mainly to support building and renovation projects. Those grants were available to organizations working in higher ed, health care, social services, science, conservation, arts and humanities, and public affairs.

Langdon was president of Colgate from 1978 to 1988, a period of growth for the private liberal-arts college in central New York state.

 Prior to that, he was deputy provost and lecturer in history at Yale. Langdon had earlier taught history and American studies at Yale and at the California Institute of Technology. He also taught history at Vassar College where he served as special assistant to the president.

A 1954 graduate of Harvard College, Langdon earned his master’s at Amherst College and his doctorate as a Coe Fellow at Yale.

He was married to Agnes Domandi. They had three children.