John McDaniel

Distressing news from our interim Dean this morning:

It is with great sadness that we announce the death this morning of John McDaniel. In his fortieth year of service to MTSU, he had served as dean of the College of Liberal Arts for more than a quarter century, and was widely known for his intelligence, wit, and wisdom. He leaves behind his wife Jean, sons Scott (Donetta) and Craig, and three granddaughters.

Dean McDaniel was a great friend and lifeline to our department, at a time when many of his "superiors" would have been pleased to lose the philosophy program entirely. He stood with us.


He was a great friend and unstinting source of encouragement to me personally, and a special breed of academic administrator-- equally at home in the worlds of literary scholarship and of the great American pastime (he was once a hot Pirates' prospect).


When word of his latest, now sorrowfully last, illness got around last Fall he held his head high and resolved to "take this one on like all the other afflictions that have come my way in recent times: one step at a time."


He told me how lucky I was to have been mentored by John Lachs. I was also very lucky to have learned from John McDaniel.


Obit