Who is Julian Gibbs from Composing a Life and what is their importance?

Julian Gibbs is the president of Amherst College, during the time that Mary serves as the dean of faculty. Mary describes Julian as an easy man to mother. He is old-fashioned and unable to multi task. Most importantly, he is also a willful man, who as a result, is not effective as president. Gibbs dies unexpectedly while Mary is dean of faculty.