In Memory

Ben Massey

DURHAM, NC -- Ben Massey shed his confining body on December 10, 2015. His love of the ocean allowed him to “go home” near the sea with family by his side.

Thomas Benjamin Massey, eldest son of Grady and Sara Massey, was born Sept. 5, 1926 in Charlotte, NC. After attending public schools, he studied at Duke Univ. (B.A.) and NC State (M.A.) with US Navy duty between years at Duke. While serving as education advisor for USAF in England, Ben earned his Ph.D. at Cambridge.

During his first marriage to Marilyn Watson, daughters, Pam and Fori, were born in Atlanta while Ben was Georgia Tech’s Associate Dean of Students. Ben married Bylee Hunnicutt when living in London.

Ben’s career took him to every corner of the world with Univ. of Md. Univ. College. His desire to offer continuing education resulted in expanding courses for military personnel and family members living abroad. After working in England, Germany, Japan and America, Ben retired after 38 years with UMUC; his final twenty years as UMUC President. One highpoint was groundbreaking work accomplished for online education. Programs begun during his tenure led to UMUC becoming the largest, online public university in the nation today. Colleagues were indeed Ben’s second, beloved family.

Family members who preceded Ben include parents William Everard and Sara Corley; brother, William E., Jr.; and Bylee. Family survivors include daughters, Pamela “Pam” O’Quinn and Forest “Fori” McLean (Ron) of NC; grandchildren, Patrick Andrew “Drew” and Margaret Kathryn “Katie” McLean; brothers Henry Reese (Patsy) and Richard Corley (Jane) of SC; sister-in-law, Irene; nieces, nephews and cousins.

A service to celebrate Ben Massey’s life will be held spring 2016 upon completion of current Duke Chapel renovations. Memorials to honor Ben: Chapel Annual Fund, Duke Univ. Chapel, Box 90974 Durham, North Carolina 27708-0974 (gifts.duke.edu/chapel) or UMUC Foundation, Dr. T. Benjamin Massey Scholarship Fund, Office of Institutional Advancement, 3501 Univ. Blvd. E., Adelphi, MD 20783



 
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12/12/15 07:57 AM #1    

Ronald Schlundt

I heard the news with great regret.  So many of us  have good memories--going back decades--of Ben's contributions to, and support for, the overseas divisions.  He will be greatly missed.

 

Ron Schlundt 


12/12/15 09:10 AM #2    

Cyndi Inkpen

Dr. Massey truly loved UMUC and his vision and leadership laid the foundation for thousands of students to pursue higher education while protecting our nation as well as providing an opportunity for spouses and children to pursue higher education while and complete their education anywhere in the world. Commencement was as exciting for him as it was for the students. He always took time to thank the UMUC staff and faculty and talked with as many students and their families as possible. My thoughts and prayers are with the Massey family and with his UMUC family today. I'm quite sure he is already gathering everyone in Heaven to share stories and memories. 


12/12/15 10:47 AM #3    

David Garretson

Dr. Massey's passing marks the passing of an era. He will be missed.The last time I talked with Dr.Massey was when he visited Korea in 1997,the year of Dr. Ehrensberger's demise. He was on a fund raising effort among our former Korean students.We were discussing the effect of Dr. Ehrensberger's passing on UMUC. I asked him what it felt like to have to carry the full burden of UMUC and its future. He replied with strong emotion of the heavy responsibility he felt for UMUC and its future and the great act he had to follow.Just when he was going to say more a former Korean student of mine came up and asked if I would let his father take a picture of him and me. I apologized to Dr. Massey who nodded in understanding. When the mission was completed Dr. Massey had moved on to talk to somebody else and I never got to talk about the burdens of office.


12/12/15 11:42 AM #4    

Merrily Stover

I was so sorry to receive ths news.   Ben's willingness to embrace innovation made a difference in my life.  I arrived at UMUC in the pre-internet days with experience in distance education through the British Open University.  I was thus onboard when online learning was first designed and implemented.  Our background in Open Learning helped ensure a quality project, and Ben's vission helped make it all happen.  We were all pioneers! 


12/12/15 05:34 PM #5    

James A. "Jim" Moss

It is with sadness and tribute that I receive this news of Ben Massey's passing.  I first met him when I was an Army officer in Heidelberg in the early 70s and my wife Susan Howard Moss was teaching for UMUC.  When I came back to Germany as a faculty member in 1987, he had moved on to the presidency in College Park, but his legacy as the Director of the European division was still in the air.  In 94, he hired me to go to Vladivostok after which assignment I new I had found my permanent home with UMUC.  It was a privilege to see and talk to him last June at our meeting in Durham.  May Ben Massey rest in peace.


12/13/15 12:17 PM #6    

Duncan Butts

It's time for me to weigh in. Dr. Massey had many jewels in his crown. The Crown Jewel, in my opinion, was the Russian program. This program was a masterpiece. How he envisioned it and finally put it in place places him in  the pantheon of movers and shakers. The Russian program changed my life. I will always be grateful to Dr. Massey for starting the program, and to Dr. Rosemary Hoffmann for hiring me. I am saddened to see him gone. A man like Dr. Massey should live forever. So, I say to Dr. Massey, rest in peace. I will sing your praises to the end of my days.


12/16/15 02:16 PM #7    

Mary Ellen Petrisko

As one who had the privilege and pleasure of working closely with Ben for ten years at UMUC, both as Assistant to the President and as Vice President for Academic Affairs, I am greatly saddened at his death. I shall always hold him in the highest esteem as a leader and, more importantly, as a human being:  a man guided by principles on which he was appropriately uncompromising even when it was of the utmost difficulty for him professionally.

Ben was as dedicated as a person could be to his work, calling in every day from wherever he was, whether he be out for professional reasons or on holidays. He was always considerate of staff:  although he never left before 6:00 pm, he never expected anyone else to stay past normal office hours. People depended on him and he never let us down: the little wooden bird (which I now have) into whose beak his phone messages were placed was always stuffed, and taking those messages was the first thing he would do when entering his office. But so much more importantly, he never lost his focus on the students and what they need.  He could and did think in unorthodox(read: non-traditional)  ways about how to serve them, reflecting his ability to see things anew and not do things the same way simply because they'd always been done that way before. He served UMUC and its students and all of us well.  He was the best colleague one could ever hope for.

I learned so much from Ben and shall be ever grateful for the great good fortune that allowed me to know him and to work so closely with him and Vida during those ten important years of my career.  The world would be a better place were there more Ben Masseys among us.  

"May the memory of this righteous one be a blessing."

 

 


 

 


12/19/15 12:10 PM #8    

Claudine Weatherford

Those of us whose lives and careers have been deeply touched by Ben and his commitment to UMUC, have lost an enormously important influence and personality.  My memory of that first faculty meeting in Heidelberg (early 1970s) when, at age 26 with more stuff in my backpack than lines on my resume and surrounded by experienced Ph.Ds., Ben looped his arm in mine as we all strolled into dinner, asking me about my love of anthropology and archaeology. As Ben moved on working the crowd, Bylee took his place by my side.  What a team!  My confidence rebounded, and the evening became one of the most enjoyable and memorable of my early career.  Ben worked incredibly hard to grow and develop UMUC.  His leadership creating adult learning opportunities paved the way for so many of us to become professionally involved in distance education and other innovative higher ed programs during a transformational era.  How lucky I am to have spent a few moments with Ben during the Durham OMA meeting last spring.  His mind was sharp as a tack.  He was still interested in my career, and how I’d been able to blend management studies with anthropology.  Unbelievable.  Thank you, Ben. You are and will be missed.

 


01/02/16 04:29 AM #9    

Joe Arden

The recent passing of Ben Massey...is another indication of the end of a quite remarkable educational epoch: namely, "The Maryland/UMUC Overseas Program."

By so noting, I do not, of course, mean that there is now no longer a UMUC Overseas Program.  Obviously, there is and like most OMA folks, I wish that program the Very Best.   But, in reality---the Overseas Program, which most of us reading this "In Memory" posting knew, embraced, and with which we identified has not, in fact, existed in anything like the same manner/form/style---and certainly spirit---for some several years now.

With regard to Ben---and the Overseas Program---to which probably most of us reading this posting were introduced in the 1960s/1970s/1980s/1990s---I want to offer the following:

 ----  The single greatest strength of the Maryland Overseas Program in the above era...was the "UMUC Faculty." And,..in his administrative roles as Area Director, Division Director, Chancellor and finally President,,,

           Ben recognized this reality and in his management style and decisions always fostered an academic/administrative environment that furthered and supported this understanding of the crucial role of faculty. 

------  One way to view the history of the Maryland Overseas Program is to acknowledge, honor and thank Ray Ehrensberger...for having been the single most important player wth regard to the establishment of the Overseas Program and for having enabled it to grow and develop.

         But, at the same time, to acknowledge, honor, and thank Ben Massey...who by his values and leadership...fostered the environment that those of us who joined the program from the 1960s to the 1990s...so enjoyed/so loved and with which we so closely identified.  Certainly, in very large measure, Ben created and shaped the 'UMUC Overseas Corporate Culture' of that earlier era...in which so many of us thrived.  

-----------

In my case, I first met Ben in August 1969 in Tokyo...when he transferred from England where he had been United Kingdom/Area Director...and when I was teaching with the then Far East Division.  In the summer of 1971 after having returned to Europe as Director, Ben asked me to become the Area Director for "Benelux, Mediterranean, Middle East and North Africa."  Until his departure from UMUC in 1998, I was to report to Ben in one form or other for the next 27 years. And, until his death, maintained a quite close relationship with him.  

In every sense of the terms, Ben was my mentor---and a friend.   Indeed, for all of us who worked with the Overseas Programs...in that Golden Era mentioned above,..

Ben Massey was a mentor...and a friend.

 

 

 

 

 

          

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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