March 20, 1985
TO: Faculty and Staff Members
FROM: Robert J. Waller, Dean, School of Business
Leonard Keefe, Emeritus Professor of Marketing, died at 6:30 a.m. this morning, following a long illness. Leonard was born February 4, 1911. After receiving his B.A. degree from Illinois State and his M.A. from Northern Colorado, he taught at UNI from 1949-1952 and from 1956-1978. He retired in 1978, but continued to teach on an adjunct basis through the autumn of 1983. Leonard was the first department head of the Department of Business, which is now the School of Business. He served in that capacity from 1969 until 1972, when he returned to fulltime teaching.
A memorial service will be held Saturday, March 23, at 11:00 a.m. at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Cedar Falls. Memorials may be sent to the UNI Endowment Fund for the School of Business at the UNI Foundation. He is survived by his wife, Kathleen, and five children, Michael, Patricia, Mary, Joseph, and John.
3/21/85
MEMORIAL SERVICES SATURDAY MARCH 23 FOR UNI MARKETING PIONEER LEONARD KEEFE
CEDAR FALLS--Memorial services for Leonard J. Keefe, 74, 127 Southbrooke Drive, Waterloo, will be 11 a.m. Saturday (March 23) at St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Cedar Falls. He died early Wednesday (March 20) morning at Schoitz Medical Center, Hospice Unit, following a long battle with cancer. Keefe was an emeritus professor of marketing at the University of Northern Iowa and former head of its business department, a predecessor to the School of Business.
He was born Feb. 4, 1911, in Piper City, Illinois, a son of Joseph and Elfreda Olson Keefe. He married Madalon Moratz of Bloomington, Illinois, in 1940. She died in 1963. He married Kathleen Frielinghausen of Evansville, Indiana, October 24, 1969. Keefe earned a bachelor's degree from Illinois State University in 1936, an M.A. degree from the University of Northern Colorado in 1940, and did additional graduate work at Northwestern and Indiana Universities, and the University of Illinois. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.
Keefe taught at UNI from 1949 to 1952, and from 1956 until his retirement in 1978. He continued teaching part-time as an adjunct professor until June 1983. During his tenure at UNI, he had more than 10,000 students in his marketing classes. In 1977, he received the Distinguished Teaching Award from the College of Business and Behavioral Sciences.
"Leonard Keefe was an outstanding classroom teacher, administrator, and warm human being who influenced directly and profoundly the lives of thousands of students at UNI," said Dr. Robert Waller, dean of the UNI School of Business, Wednesday.
Keefe served nine years as chairman of the University Faculty Senate, from 1962 through 1971, and was chairman of the University Insurance and Retirement Committee for 15 years. Keefe's community service was extensive and included chairing the Cedar Falls Utilities Board of Trustees from 1959-1972, a term on the board of the Cedar Falls Chamber of Commerce, and director of Family Federal Savings and Loan Association of Cedar Falls from 1962-1982. Also, president of Beaver Hills Country Club, chair of a Citizens Committee to study the needs of buildings for the Cedar Falls School District, chairman of the Cedar Falls District of Boy Scouts, and vice president of the United Services of Black Hawk County. He was a member of the Iowa State University Advisory Council for the Center for Industrial Research and Service from 1971-1974 and was a marketing consultant for many industrial and food processing companies throughout the Midwest.
Keefe was active in the Catholic Church and served as president of the Archdiocese of Dubuque Board of Education, on the Board of Education of Columbus High School in Waterloo, and as president of St. Patrick's Parish Council. He had been a member of the Knights of Columbus for over 30 years.
He is survived by his wife, Kathleen, two daughters, Pat (Mrs. Earl) Meeter of Cedar Falls, Mary (Mrs. Gilbert) Gutknecht of Rochester, Minnesota; three sons, Lt. Col. Michael Keefe of Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, Major Joseph Keefe, Pentagon, Washington, D.C.; and John Keefe, Waterloo; 14 grandchildren and one great-grandchild; a brother, Dr. William Keefe of Oakmont, Pennsylvania; three sisters, Josephine Campbell of Memphis, Tennessee, and Roma Cook and A. Marie Keefe, both of San Antonio, Texas.
Dahl-Van Hove-Schoof Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Keefe donated his body to the University of Iowa School of Medicine. There will be no visitation at the funeral home. Memorials may be made to the UNI School of Business Endowment Fund, or to the Endowment Fund of Columbus High School, Waterloo, or Cedar Valley Hospice, Waterloo.