Dr. Clifford G. McCollum died on May 4, 2010, in Kansas City, Missouri. He was ninety years old. McCollum was born on May 12, 1919, in South Gifford, Missouri, the son of William H. McCollum and Aultie V. Westfall McCollum. He was preceded in death by his parents and his brother, Clyde McCollum, and sister, Wanda Mae Keithley. McCollum served in the Army Air Corps during World War Two. He attended Central College in Fayette, Missouri, for two years before earning his B. S., M. A. and Ed. D. degrees from the University of Missouri. McCollum joined the University of Northern Iowa faculty in 1949 as Assistant Principal of the Price Laboratory School. From 1950 until 1955, he taught elementary science to future teachers at UNI. He went to SUNY College at Oneonta to teach in 1955, but returned to UNI one year later. In 1957 he was promoted to Head of the Department of Science and in 1968 he became the first dean of the College of Natural Sciences and a professor of biology. He held this position until 1984 when he retired. At his retirement, the science building at UNI was named McCollum Science Hall in his honor. He is survived by his wife of sixty-nine years, Alice E. McCollum of Kansas City, his daughter Lisa McCollum of Kansas City, his son and daughter-in-law Eric McCollum and Julia Stephens of Fairfax, Virginia, and his grandchildren, Carling and Ian Futvoye. Dr. McCollum has donated his body to the University of Missouri Medical School. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, May 7, 2010, at Pine Ridge Presbyterian Church, 7600 N. Barry Road, Kansas City, where McCollum was a member. Visitation will be at 10 a.m. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Clifford and Alice McCollum Scholarship Fund in care of the UNI Foundation or to Pine Ridge Presbyterian Church.
Copyright Kansas City Star, May 5, 2010; downloaded from the on-line edition, May 6, 2010.
The science building was named for the former Dean of the College of Natural Sciences, Clifford G. McCollum. McCollum joined the UNI faculty in 1949 as Assistant Principal of the Price Laboratory School. From 1950 until 1955 he taught elementary science to future teachers at UNI. He went to the State University of New York in 1955, but returned one year later. In 1957 he was promoted to Head of the Department of Science and in 1968 he became the first dean of the College of Natural Sciences and a professor of biology. He held this position until 1984 when he retired. McCollum received his B.S., M.A., and Ed.D. degrees from the University of Missouri.
Compiled by Susan Witthoft; edited by Gerald L. Peterson Special Collections and University Archives January 1996