 He is credited with starting the MacArthur Fellows Program, as well as guiding the foundation through its legal troubles of the late 1970s and early 1980s, when J. Roderick MacArthur – son of founder John D. MacArthur – sued several board members over alleged mismanagement of foundation funds.Corbally was a Presbyterian and the first of that denomination to become chancellor of Syracuse, a historically Methodist university.After his time at the MacArthur Foundation, Corbally retired to his home state of Washington, where he served as a board member for various Seattle-area organizations, including the Rural Development Institute, now known as Landesa.