In Memoriam header illustration

IN MEMORIAM

These listings include notices shared with the university from May 1, 2020 through Aug. 31, 2020.


1940s

41 class year

James “Jack” T. Stephens, Henrico, Va., 5/13/20.

42 class year

Rush E. Choate, Gainesville, Fla., 7/23/20.

44 class year

O. Watts Gills, Roanoke, Va., 6/29/20.

John Stuart Prince, Emporia, Va., 5/19/20.

Stanley “S.H.” Howard Scher, Henrico, Va., 7/9/20.

45 class year

Fred Randolph Chapman, Woodland Park, Colo., 6/10/20.

Robert Asbury Cox Jr., Richmond, Va., 4/9/20.

46 class year

Marshall Lee Bailey, Charlotte Court House, Va., 7/1/20.

William J. Ball, Tappahannock, Va., 9/23/19.

Edward S. Smith III, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., 7/29/20.

C. Thomas Tate Sr., Blacksburg, Va., 7/30/20.

William Kerr Warriner, Herndon, Va., 7/26/20.

47 class year

Stanley J. Marcus, Montvale, N.J., 8/5/20.

Mary Williams Smith, Harrisonburg, Va., 6/25/20.

Peter A. Tokarz, Richmond, Va., 8/20/20.

48 class year

Walter F. Green III, Harrisonburg, Va., 4/28/20.

49 class year

Jack M. Hill, Williamsburg, Va., 8/8/20.

H. Leon Hodges, Chesapeake, Va., 6/5/20.

Thomas Patterson Inge, Blackstone, Va., 5/25/20.

Thomas Lewis Jennings, Midlothian, Va., 9/10/19.

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1950s

50 class year

Richard L. Bidwell, Richmond, Va., 5/9/20.

Kenneth Edwin Clevenger, Blacksburg, Va., 7/27/20.

Jerome A. Mallon, San Luis Obispo, Calif., 7/20/20.

John Ashby Nicholas, Laurel, Md., 4/22/20.

Malcolm O. Perkins, Mechanicsville, Va., 7/23/20.

William C. Phillips, Johnson City, Tenn., 2/19/03.

51 class year

Wendell Holmes Beverly, Derwood, Md., 12/27/19.

Ernest J. Hopkins, Glasgow, Va., 6/30/20.

Robert Douglas Hughes III, Pfafftown, N.C., 2/19/17.

Percival Ashby Lewis Jr., Manassas, Va., 5/3/20.

Richard C. Loyd, Lynchburg, Va., 7/13/20.

Carroll “Mac” E. Mahaney, Pembroke, Va., 6/4/20.

Robert William Moyer, Titusville, Fla., 7/8/20.

Ned L. Sours, Richmond, Va., 6/19/20.

Richard Diem Webster, Ocean View, Del., 7/27/20.

Ernest P. Wellford, Richmond, Va., 4/14/20.

52 class year

Martin H. Alman, Aventura, Fla., 6/1/20.

George D. Greer, Blairsville, Ga., 5/13/20.

A. Lee Hall, Mooresville, N.C., 7/18/20.

Ann Worischek Harman, Flint Hill, Va., 5/1/20.

Jane Read Jacob, Juno Beach, Fla., 6/25/20.

Edward B. Scruggs, Roanoke, Va., 5/22/20.

William Emerson Shackelford, Columbus, Mont., 4/27/20.

54 class year

Alvin Q. Croy, Blacksburg, Va., 6/21/20.

Rector A. Engleman Jr., Lexington, Va., 8/28/20.

Billy R. Price, Kimball, W.Va., 5/1/20.

55 class year

Thamo C. Cruise, Seymour, Tenn., 7/25/20.

Willis A. Evans, Tampa, Fla., 7/15/20.

Johnny C. Fender, San Angelo, Texas, 7/26/20.

Hal Gibboney Prillaman, Aledo, Texas, 6/11/20.

Robert J. Taylor, Gaithersburg, Md., 7/29/20.

Frank S. Tulloss Jr., Fredericksburg, Va., 8/4/20.

56 class year

Jack Phillip Brown, Greensboro, N.C., 7/22/20.

Pien “P.C.” Chien Huang, Baltimore, Md., 8/3/20.

William J. Monta, Newport News, Va., 7/24/20.

Richard H. Price, Pembroke, Va., 6/3/20.

Thomas C. Richards, San Antonio, Texas, 8/9/20.

57 class year

Willie R. Gilman, Glen Allen, Va., 4/28/20.

Leonard P. Harris, Hagerstown, Md., 6/18/20.

Jack L. Horne, Orangeburg, S.C., 5/27/20.

Edward Tilley Jones III, Richmond, Va., 6/13/20.

Frederick William Louis, Gainesville, Va., 4/29/20.

Pierson Scott Morrill Sr., Scottsville, Va., 7/2/20.

58 class year

Bruce Conway Clough, Haymarket, Va., 5/12/20.

Raymond Oliver England Sr., E. Greenwich, R.I., 7/18/20.

Lester Harris Hollans, Mountain Brook, Ala., 6/6/20.

Dennis R. Looney, Roanoke, Va., 5/30/20.

William Maynard Riddle Sr., Myrtle Beach, S.C., 11/1/19.

Dean T. Mook, Blacksburg, Va., 6/19/20.

Paul Henry Steagall Jr., Harrisonburg, Va., 6/6/20.

59 class year

Dorothy Lee Bailey, Grundy, Va., 8/3/20.

Daniel H. Barrett, Manassas, Va., 6/2/20.

Donald A. Bowers, Ashburn, Va., 4/28/20.

Gary J. Golgowski, Ormond Beach, Fla., 3/20/20.

David William Gregory Jr., Virginia Beach, Va., 8/14/20.

Homer Hall, Ararat, Va., 11/20/19.

Vernon R. Jackson, Virginia Beach, Va., 5/29/20.

Frank Herman Hubbard Jr., Winston Salem, N.C., 6/26/20.

Kenneth W. Washburn, Athens, Ga., 6/30/20.

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1960s

60 class year

Thomas R. Burdette III, Atlantic Beach, Fla., 4/10/20.

Joseph P. Cofer Jr., Chattanooga, Tenn., 5/25/20.

Archer W. Cook Jr., Spartanburg, S.C., 7/12/20.

Donald Vance Dalton, Tucson, Ariz., 7/28/20.

James W. Hammond, Kingwood, Texas, 6/5/20.

Leonard “Jack” Jackson Hite, Clarksville, Va., 8/23/20.

William Ramsey Mahler, Fredericksburg, Va., 5/2/20.

Andrew R. Mitchell, Marietta, Ga., 4/20/20.

William Harry Pletta, Seneca, S.C., 8/6/20.

John Barringer Spangler, Blacksburg, Va., 4/21/20.

Robert Louis Walker, Cary, N.C., 7/23/20.

61 class year

Theodore A. Fritz, Santa Fe, N.M., 5/1/20.

Stanley Herbert Hicks, Chesapeake, Va., 6/7/20.

Jess Thomas Lester Jr., Hayes, Va., 6/9/20.

James Blount Loftin III, Franklin, Va., 7/14/20.

George Kirkland Priggen, Penhook, Va., 7/27/20.

62 class year

Dale English Caldwell, Greensboro, N.C., 7/6/20.

Curtis Elwood Cook, Stuarts Draft, Va., 5/18/20.

Grover Cullen Jennings, Marion, Va., 6/8/20.

Richard Albert Johnson, Clinton, Iowa, 6/15/20.

Charles Richard Manning Jr., Raleigh, N.C., 8/5/19.

James Lamar Milner, Sheridan, Wyo., 6/10/20.

Russell Elwood Still, Danville, Va., 7/19/20.

63 class year

Arthur Frederick Clark, Nottingham, N.H., 7/26/20.

David Bruce Claudepierre, Simpsonville, S.C., 5/5/20.

Dwayne Harold Fink, Tempe, Ariz., 6/25/20.

Frederic Cowan Garber, Lancaster, Pa., 7/29/20.

Price Joseph Giampocaro, St. Petersburg, Fla., 5/28/20.

John McClellan Houston, Midlothian, Va., 5/30/20.

Jack Gilmer Kaylor, Wytheville, Va., 8/9/20.

Gerald Eugene Lawton, Blacksburg, Va., 6/30/20.

Sidney Otis Nash Jr., Evans, Ga., 7/27/20.

Michael Todd Nero, Norfolk, Va., 8/10/20.

Donald Walker Rhinehart, Bethesda, Md., 6/29/20.

Walter Crawford Rogers, Boydton, Va., 11/4/03.

64 class year

John W. Altizer, Cottonwood, Ariz., 5/11/20.

W. Blaker Bolling, Huntington, W.Va., 5/10/20.

Lester “Chuck” Burie Carroll Jr., Winchester, Va., 6/12/20.

Shao-Kang Kenneth Pai, Issaquah, Wash., 5/25/20.

Morris Serwitz, Atlanta, Ga., 8/5/20.

George “Dale” Daland Webb III, Locust Grove, Va., 4/30/20.

Charles Monroe Whittington III, Suffolk, Va., 7/20/20.

65 class year

John David Dearing, Newport News, Va., 8/11/20.

Walter Lemuel Heard Jr., Social Circle, Ga., 9/19/19.

John Wen-Hsing Huang, Shrewsbury, Pa., 6/10/20.

Francis Rodman Porter III, Concord, N.C., 6/25/20.

John Malcolm Rogers, Georgetown, S.C., 6/19/20.

Lowell Hubert Terry, Forest, Va., 6/20/20.

66 class year

T. Hardy Dunnington, Bowling Green, Va., 4/28/20.

Harry Morris Ivey, Southport, N.C., 9/25/19.

Thelbert Samuel Shields, Sterling, Va., 6/27/20.

Claude James Staylor III, Colorado Springs, Colo., 6/3/20.

Rile Edgar Thacker, Chambersburg, Pa., 6/26/20.

67 class year

Morris Arthur Bander, Carrollton, Va., 5/24/20.

Robert Edmund Garrison, Louisville, Ky., 6/20/20.

Sigmund Albert Schildcrout, Sullivans Island, S.C., 8/15/20.

Benny Lee Via, Eden, N.C., 7/18/20.

68 class year

Alan Randall Brown, Friendswood, Texas, 5/8/20.

Nasser Hadidi, Colfax, Wisc., 8/16/20.

Edward Alexander Herndon, Erwin, Tenn., 6/18/20.

Freddie Nelson Knott, Oxford, N.C., 5/14/20.

John “Jack” William MacKenzie, Fayetteville, Ark., 8/27/20.

Thomas Monroe Pearman III, Shawsville, Va., 8/1/20.

69 class year

Frank P. DiPerna Jr., Purcellville, Va., 6/26/20.

S. Stanley Prince, Chesterfield, Va., 6/24/20.

Ralph Mason Simpson, Millboro, Va., 5/28/20.

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1970s

70 class year

Roland Joseph Hamel Jr., Surprise, Ariz., 6/19/20.

Louis H. Loudermilk, Clintonville, W.Va., 6/17/20.

Jenny G. McCormick McDowell, Apex, N.C., 10/28/19.

Glenn Edward Rose, Calabash, N.C., 5/6/20.

Dwayne John Westermann, Roanoke, Va., 6/4/20.

71 class year

Ronald Douglas Gibbs, Florence, S.C., 5/22/20.

Norris Earl Lewis, Christiansburg, Va., 5/10/20.

Michael R. Mills, Disputanta, Va., 7/27/20.

Boyd Morton Nichols, Saint Charles, Mo., 7/16/20.

Anita Lockhart Stacy, Grundy, Va., 8/16/20.

72 class year

Boyd Franklin Cauble, Charlotte, N.C., 6/26/20.

Ralph Edward Life, Hilliard, Ohio, 8/1/20.

Melvin Lee Parks Jr., Livingston, Texas, 8/2/20.

Charles William Tomlin, Hyattsville, Md., 7/26/20.

73 class year

Samuel A. Alexander, Exmore, Va., 6/11/20.

Charles Allen Campbell, Kingsport, Tenn., 6/18/20.

John Lawrence Gibbens, Thibodaux, La., 6/25/20.

David Lynn Lacey, Charlotte, N.C., 7/27/19.

Johanna DeCarli Mitchell, Olympia, Wash., 6/19/20.

Allen Thomas Ramsay, Ruther Glen, Va., 6/2/20.

George Lee Reaves Jr., Newport News, Va., 6/5/20.

74 class year

Bruce L. Byrd Jr., Houston, Texas, 6/11/20.

George Harrison Fisher III, Chicago, Ill., 4/8/14.

Rene Charles Fix, Mount Pleasant, S.C., 6/21/20.

Kathleen Karen Taylor, Los Alamos, N.M., 6/28/20.

April Mazzucco Wilhelm, Alexandria, Va., 7/17/20.

Michael William Yost, Lancaster, S.C., 5/25/20.

75 class year

Victor Ellis Baker, Suffolk, Va., 4/28/20.

Neil Edwin Bristow, Virginia Beach, Va., 6/14/20.

Charles Frederick Tacey, West Chester, Pa., 6/10/20.

Rebecca Alma Weeks, Floyd, Va., 6/13/20.

76 class year

Patrick Alan Morrison, Falls Church, Va., 5/11/20.

Steven William Nissley, Springfield, Va., 7/9/20.

Della Hypes Osborne, Tannersville, Va., 8/3/20.

Jean Lois Parker, Joliet, Ill., 7/16/20.

David Blaine Parrish, Roanoke, Va., 7/30/20.

Nathaniel Alan Spaulding, Forest, Va., 7/20/20.

Evelyn Hess Stiltner, Richmond, Ky., 6/4/20.

George Thomas Turman Jr., Charlottesville, Va., 8/1/20.

77 class year

Malcolm Dando Davis, Littleton, Colo., 7/19/20

Philip Pryor Hunter, Greeneville, Tenn., 7/16/20

Lucian Harold Peery, Tazewell, Va., 10/30/19

Lindy Sharon Ryan Laughton, Plano, Texas, 7/23/19

78 class year

Peter L McDonald, Little River, S.C., 6/10/20

79 class year

Jerry Samuel Barnett, Mechanicsville, Va., 4/24/20.

Diane Huey D’Orazio, Kapaau, Hawaii, 5/28/20.

Dorothy Elizabeth Jones Hamrick, Buchanan, Va., 6/11/20.

Barbara Anne Kazazes, Greensboro, N.C., 5/23/20.

John Nunnally Laycock, Leesburg, Va., 10/26/19.

James Douglas Nixon Jr., Richmond, Va., 6/9/20.

Harold “Hal” Daingerfield Starke Jr., Wake Forest, N.C., 11/2/19.

Margaret Anne Miller Witt, Ashburn, Va., 4/30/20.


1980s

80 class year

Charles Samuel Foggin II, Naples, Fla., 5/21/20.

Judith Anderson Hickey, Kernersville, N.C., 5/26/20.

81 class year

Susan R. Dillow, Waynesboro, Va., 5/8/20.

Esther C. Myrick Holland, Hanover, Md., 6/19/19.

Dean Andrew Johnson, Warren, Pa., 4/30/20.

Shirley Virginia Stewart Winstead, Chesapeake, Va., 8/9/20.

82 class year

Matthew Joseph Albrittain, Falls Church, Va., 7/23/20.

Joseph William Bauernfeind, Vienna, Va., 11/15/19.

Dewey Edmond Deel Jr., Pounding Mill, Va., 7/7/20.

James Richard Eberle, Salem, N.Y., 8/7/20.

Clinton Vassett Turner, Richmond, Va., 5/15/20.

Thomas G. Wilson, Blacksburg, Va., 6/6/20.

83 class year

Donald Keith Osborne, Christiansburg, Va., 5/16/20.

Jerome Joseph Savitsky, Mount Vernon, Iowa, 5/28/20.

84 class year

Franklin Foster Smith, Sterling, Va., 7/12/20.

Raymond Dexter Thomas II, Vienna, Va., 7/27/20.

Nancy Jane Yaeger, Howell, N.J., 5/28/20.

85 class year

Elizabeth McIntosh Gunnufsen, Norfolk, Va., 7/7/20.

Joanne Miller Pearson, Blacksburg, Va., 5/15/20.

86 class year

J. Yost Conner Jr., Arlington, Va., 4/12/20.

Rod Goins II, Stone Mountain, Ga., 8/23/20.

Tony Willard Warren, Saltville, Va., 10/29/19.

87 class year

Susan Ruppel Bray, Charlotte, N.C., 7/1/20.

Barbara Ann Fisher Lusby, Pocomoke City, Md., 6/26/20.

Calvert Chapman McGregor Jr., Hillsborough, N.C., 5/12/20.

Georgine Marie Richardson Redmond, Fairfax, Va., 5/10/20.

Stephen Joseph Richichi, Norman, Okla., 7/26/20.

88 class year

Jamal Nader Dajani, Sterling, Va., 5/30/20.

Gregory Prentice Moody, Williamsburg, Va., 6/18/19.

Thomas Richard Sallade, Blacksburg, Va., 5/27/20.

89 class year

Cara Deane Everett, Bluff City, Tenn., 4/28/20.

David Benjamin Gieseman, Arlington, Va., 4/19/20.

Brian Plummer Smith, Fairfax, Va., 10/22/19.

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1990s

90 class year

Christopher Mark Moore, Abingdon, Va., 6/13/19.

James Courtland Stewart, Christiansburg, Va., 8/15/20.

92 class year

Myriam Eliette Rony, Holly Springs, N.C., 7/29/20.

93 class year

Randy Scott Dixon, Abingdon, Va., 7/15/20.

Kelly Colleen McCarthy, Hector, N.Y., 5/11/20.

Lucille T. Nowell, Highland, Md., 6/14/20.

Myron V. Ricketts, Gainesville, Va., 4/27/20.

94 class year

Michael Stefan Habenschuss Jr., Charleston, W.Va., 5/17/20.

95 class year

James D. Butler II, Henrico, Va., 6/7/20.

Robert Thomas Lassinger, Fredericksburg, Va., 5/10/20.

Horton “Hoyt” Wray March, Norfolk, Va., 5/17/20.

Anne Long Morris, Springfield, Va., 7/10/20.

96 class year

Scott Michael Collier, Arvada, Colo., 6/8/20.

Garvis Rudolph Downey III, Richmond, Va., 7/19/20.

William Brett Harlow, Shenandoah, Va., 7/5/20.

98 class year

Linda H. Scruggs, Tuscaloosa, Ala., 6/23/19.

Gregory Todd Shuman, Spring Lake, Mich., 7/31/20.

99 class year

Steven C. York, Yarrawonga, Victoria, Australia, 6/28/20.

Virginia Marie Chenoweth, Richmond, Va., 10/22/19.


2000s

00 class year

Douglas Fowler Spencer, Durham, N.C., 5/20/20.

01 class year

Joseph Michael Kuznicki, Galveston, Texas, 6/17/20.

02 class year

Heidi Larson Nardone, New Haven, Conn., 7/7/20.

03 class year

Ryan Heger Keith, Washington, D.C., 5/10/20.

04 class year

Jennifer Ewell Jones, Rockville, Va., 6/3/20.

05 class year

Carol Elizabeth Swindell, Wirtz, Va., 6/13/20.

06 class year

Christopher Alan Engle, Oden, Mich., 4/20/20.

08 class year

Ian Donald MacLean-Blevins, Seattle, Wash., 6/19/20.


2010s

10 class year

Richard Lloyd Barrick, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., 7/11/20.

Philip Larry Loving, Richmond, Va., 5/8/20.

11 class year

Paige Nicole Messick, Midland, Va., 6/28/20.

16 class year

Sean Robert Bernard, Boonton, N.J., 5/29/20.

Taylor Gayle Foust, Danville, Va., 6/29/20.

Sharon Erica Grey Hornsby, Alexandria, Va., 6/13/20.

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OBITUARIES

Faculty and staff

Robert “Bob” Benoit, associate professor emeritus in the Department of Biological Sciences who served on the faculty for more than 40 years, died Nov. 18, 2020. Benoit was one of the founding members of the department’s microbiology program. His gift for teaching and advising was recognized with numerous awards, including the Alumni Award for Excellence in Teaching and the William E. Wine Award. In 2002, he was named Virginia Professor of the Year.

Hampton Clay Gabler III, professor and chair of the undergraduate biomedical engineering program in biomedical engineering and mechanics in the College of Engineering, died on Jan. 11. Gabler was the Samuel Herrick Professor at Virginia Tech.

Chuck Hartman, who oversaw the Virginia Tech baseball program for nearly three decades, died Nov. 2, 2020.

Christine Elizabeth “Chris” Kaestle, a professor of human development and family science at Virginia Tech, died July 16, 2020.

Calvert T. Larsen, associate professor emeritus of large animal clinical sciences in the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, died on Jan. 24.

Dean Mook, professor emeritus of biomedical engineering and mechanics at Virginia Tech, died June 19, 2020. Mook received two degrees in engineering mechanics from Virginia Tech—a bachelor’s in 1954 and a master’s in 1960. Mook joined the Virginia Tech engineering faculty in 1966. Upon retiring in 2003, Mook was the N. Waldo Harrison Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics.

Lillian Haldeman “Peg” Moore, a University Distinguished Professor, died Nov. 21, 2020. Moore joined the university in 1966 as a professor of bacteriology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. An authority in the field of anaerobic bacteriology and food microbiology and a pioneer in the field of microbiome research, she was instrumental in setting up the Anaerobe Lab.

Johann Norstedt, a longtime faculty member in the Department of English, died Oct. 28, 2020. Norstedt’s Virginia Tech career began in 1972 and spanned four decades. He served as chair of the English department from 1997 until his retirement in 2002. In 1994, Norstedt was named Virginia Tech Alumni Advisor of the Year.

Steven Prince, professor of cinema studies, died Dec. 30, 2020. He published 16 books that examine film in its historical, aesthetic, social, and technological contexts. His 17th book, “Apocalypse Cinema,” will appear posthumously.

James Sellers ’75, MAED ’78, Ed.D. ’84, part-time assessment coordinator and clinical faculty member in educational leadership in the School of Education, died Aug. 28, 2020.

Kusum Singh, professor emerita of educational research and evaluation in the Virginia Tech School of Education, died on Feb. 22.

Neil Larry Shumsky, an associate professor emeritus in the Department of History, died Sept. 3, 2020. Shumsky began his Virginia Tech career in 1972 and retired in 2019 after more than 45 years of service.

Walter Werner Wierwille, professor emeritus in the Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, died Oct. 27, 2020. Wierwille was known for his research on driver-vehicle systems, in-vehicle driver workload evaluation, simulator and instrumented vehicle testing, impaired driver detection, and general applications of human factors research and engineering techniques to driver-vehicle systems.

Robert Carl Williges, professor emeritus in the Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, died July 11, 2020. Williges was a world-renowned scholar, teacher, and researcher in the field of human-computer interaction. He joined Virginia Tech in 1976 and was named to the Ralph H. Bogle Professorship of Industrial and Systems Engineering in 1996. Williges was the founder and director of the Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory.

Notable Alumnus

George Truman “G.T.” Ward died June 27, 2020, in Marshall, Virginia. Ward was an advocate for architecture studies at Virginia Tech, a devoted supporter of the university in a variety of roles, and a recipient of the university’s highest honor, the William H. Ruffner Medal. He earned a bachelor’s in building design in 1951 and a master’s in architecture in 1952.

Administration

Lay Nam Chang

Lay Nam Chang, the founding dean of the Virginia Tech College of Science and a professor and former department chair of physics, died Dec. 8, 2020.

Chang served as dean of the College of Science from 2003 to 2016. Under Chang’s leadership, the college launched several new initiatives, including the Academy of Integrated Science and the School of Neuroscience. Chang was the last dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, serving from 2002 to 2003, when he guided the academic restructuring that resulted in two new colleges—the College of Science and the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences.

Chang joined the Virginia Tech Department of Physics faculty in 1978. In 1995, he became chair of the department, a position he held until 2002.

Richard E. Sorensen

Richard E. Sorensen, former dean of the Pamplin College of Business, died December 29, 2020.

Joining Virginia Tech in 1982 as dean of its business school, Sorensen led Pamplin for 31 years before retiring in 2013. He was previously business dean at Appalachian State University.

Pamplin’s growth in numbers, quality, stature, resources, and longtime faculty is due in no small measure to Sorensen’s leadership and hard work. His pursuits in business and management education also reached beyond campus boundaries and national borders.

Throughout his tenure at Virginia Tech, Sorensen taught the Introduction to Business course and established or grew innovative programs within the college, including international studies, the executive and professional MBA, and the Master of Information Technology. In addition, he advanced diversity initiatives, including in student recruitment and faculty hiring.

Betsy Flanagan

Elizabeth A. “Betsy” Flanagan, who served as Virginia Tech’s vice president for development and university relations from 2000 to 2015 and oversaw the university’s first billion-dollar fundraising campaign, died Feb. 16.

Flanagan was the first woman to head fundraising at the university, and she oversaw major growth in the university’s fundraising operation. During her tenure, university relations launched the Invent the Future brand that helped highlight Virginia Tech as a major research institution.

Flanagan championed the inclusion of women on key volunteer boards and committees at the university. She launched an initiative called Women in Leadership and Philanthropy. An endowed lecture fund created by members of the initiative was renamed in Flanagan’s honor because of her passion for people.

Flanagan was conferred the title of vice president emerita by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors in 2016.

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