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Funeral services for Dr. Earl R. Mezoff, 75, of Elizabethtown, Penn., were held July 1, 2000 at John S. Sell Memorial Chapel, Masonic Homes, at Elizabethtown. The Rev. Kenneth Creitz officiated.

Dr. Mezoff died June 28, 2000, at the Masonic Health Care Center in Elizabethtown, following a lengthy illness.

Dr. Mezoff was born in McKeesport, Penn., to John and Mary Jane (Gall) Mezoff.

He graduated from McKeesport High School in 1942. He received an A.B. in English from Thiel College in 1947 and an M.A. in Psychology from Michigan State University in 1948. He earned a doctorate in higher education from Pennsylvania State University in 1965, and did further graduate study at Harvard University.

Dr. Mezoff was a United States naval officer in the Pacific theater, and was a naval attaché during the Peace Conference in San Francisco in 1945.

He married Joan Miller in March of 1950.

From 1952 to 1961, he served as director of admissions at Thiel College. He served as assistant to the president of Lebanon Valley College from 1963 to 1967 and as vice president from 1967 to 1971.

From 1971 to 1978, he served as president of Dana College. While president, he received the Cross of the Knight Order of Danneborg from the Queen of Denmark, Margrethe II. He was the first non-Dane to receive “Friend of the Fraternity Award.” Dr. Mezoff was a former member of the Rotary Club of Blair, where he served on the board and was vice president in 1974, and president in 1975. In 1976, he served as secretary and in 1977 he was vice chairman of the Nebraska Independent College Foundation. From 1973 to 1978, he served on the Nebraska Educational Television Council for Higher Education. Dr. Mezoff served as treasurer of the Black Elk-Neihardt Park Board from 1973 to 1978. He was a member of Phi Delta Kappa, a national honorary education fraternity.

From 1978 to 1989, he served as president of Tusculum College, where he instituted an adult degree program and a master’s degree program.

He then served as chancellor of the college and its professional studies program until his retirement.

During his early retirement, he was president of the Paul M. Deutsch Press in Orlando, Fla., where he had been associated for four years.

He was a former member of the Central Pennsylvania Synod of the Lutheran Church in America. He served the Synod as a member and the first lay chairman of the executive committee.

He was a 50-year member of ?eka Lodge No. 290, F&AM in ?, Penn.

Dr. Mezoff was widely known in the field of higher education as a Christian gentleman of wisdom and wit; one who inspired many young people, in particular, to “reach for the stars.”

He is survived by his wife, Joan; two daughters and sons-in-law, Margaret and Richard Holman of New York, N.Y., and Patricia and Peter Magoon of Braintree, Vt.; and a brother and sister-in-law, John and Marian Mezoff of Gallup, N.M.

He was preceded in death by two sisters, Gladys Warfield and Mary Elizabeth Crouch.

Memorials are suggested to Thiel College, development Office, 75 College Ave., Greenville, PA, 16125, or to the Committee on Masonic Homes, One Masonic Drive, Elizabethtown, PA, 17022.

Frank S. Miller Funeral Home in Elizabethtown was in charge of arrangements.

~~~ Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~