Kenneth W. Thompson, 91, a scholar of foreign relations and U.S. government who directed the University of Virginia’s Miller Center for two decades, died Feb. 2 at an assisted living facility in Charlottesville.

He had double pneumonia, said his daughter-in-law Pamela Thompson.

Dr. Thompson led the Miller Center, a nonpartisan institute for the study of the presidency, public policy and governance, from 1978 until his retirement in 1998.

In a statement announcing his death, U-Va. credited him with helping create and expand the institute’s speaker series known as the Forum program, the Presidential Oral History Program and bipartisan commissions on national issues. He continued to lead the Forum program until 2004....