Dr. Leslie F. Malpass

Dr. Leslie F. Malpass, 88, died peacefully on Thursday, March 17, 2011. He was born in Hartford, CT, on May 16, 1922. He was the son of John Frederick Malpass of Rotherham, England, and Lilly Elmslie Malpass of Aberdeen, Scotland. He attended the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, and received his BA, MA and Ph.D in Psychology from Syracuse Uneersity. He met his wife, Winona, when they were both in the army in WWII, and they were married in 1946. They met while the both worked in the Therapeutic Job Placement Center that Dr. Malpass set up, the first of its kind in the country. While working on his Masters and doctorate at Syracuse, he developed new ways of working with recidivist delineents and devised a study of adolescents' perceptions of school and related those to their achievement in school. Dr. Malpass taught psychology at Southern Illinois Uneersity from 1952 to 1959. While there, he directed a long term study of speech and hearing problems of school-age children to those of visual and auditory perception and mental ability. He became Department Head of Behavioral Sciences at the new Uneersity of South Florida, near Tampa, from 1960 to 1965. Besides his teaching activities, he was involved in the planning and organization of the Special Olympics. He was also a consultant to the development of the Peace Corps. From Florida, he went to Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State Uneersity Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA, as Dean of Arts and Sciences. He became the Vice President for Academic Affairs there in 1968. He was involved in expanding overseas programs there and developing new degree programs. Dr. Malpass was selected as the seventh President of Western Illinois Uneersity, and served from 1974 to 1987. During his administration, he raised academic standards, promoted faculty achievement, fostered service to the region aneenhanced WIU developmeneefforts. He also supervised construction of the architecturally need Uneersity Library. On March 2, 2001, the WIU Board of Trustees reneed the library in his honor. Dr. Malpass wrote ten books, four monographs and over forty articles published ineefereed journals on issues such as humor, assessment, counseling, and uneersity administration. He was an avid golfer, tennis player and swimmer as well as an inveterate traveler; he and Winona traveled often to over seventy foreign countries aneevery state in the union. His life's work also included involvement in neerous nonprofit and national organizations. He had a lifelong connection to the Salvation Army, from his early years to the present. Leslie and Winona retired to Durham, NC, in 1987. He taught at the Duke Senior Learning Center and was oneeveral boards. His favorite location was their condo in Carolina Beach, NC. He is survived by his wife; four children, Susan Poulton and her husband, John, Peter and his wife Deborah, Jenneer her husband, Tom Droege, is deceased, and Michael and his wife Susanne Kessemeier; five grandchildren, Winona and Sarah Poulton, Jordan and Carter Malpass, and Soren Malpass; nephew David and nieces Stephanie Smith Linda Mughrabi; and other relatives. Services will be held on Saturday, March 19 at 1:00pm at the Westmineer Presbyterian Church in Durham, NC. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the Westmineer Presbyterian Church. The Malpass family is under the care of Hall-Wynne Funeral Service, Durham. www.hallwynne .com, select obituaries.