Milburn Akers

Akers was born in Chicago and graduated from McKendree College, of which his great-grandfather had been the first president.

In his early life, he worked as a staff reporter for newspapers including the Peoria Transcript and Illinois State Register.

[2] After retiring from the paper in 1965, he became an important figure in Illinois higher education due in part to his political ties.

In 1968, Akers was appointed president of Shimer College following the resignation of Francis Joseph Mullin in the aftermath of the Grotesque Internecine Struggle.

[1] He had been traveling to Springfield, Illinois to lobby for a law providing greater aid to small liberal arts colleges such as Shimer.