He was the first Air Force officer to receive a Rhodes Scholarship, earning both a bachelor's and master's at Oxford University.

On July 31, 1991, Wesley W. Posvar officially retired from his post as chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh after 24 years.

Posvar was married to Mildred Miller, New York Metropolitan Opera star and recital mezzo-soprano, with whom he had three children, Wesley, Marina and Lisa.

He was one of the closest friends of the science fiction writer Robert A.Heinlein, who lived in Colorado Springs during the time that Posvar was a professor at the Academy.

His administration is best known for elimination of the university's debt from its 1960s financial crisis and for raising the school's prestige and endowment.