Dr. Charles Henry Meyerholz, M. Di. '98, from 1908 to 1922 well known as a teacher, department head, and friend of his students at the Teachers College, died in Chicago, September 13, 1936. His death followed over forty years of activity in education in rural schools as well as in public schools and universities. Dr. Meyerholz came to the Teachers College in 1908, as professor of history. In 1913 he became head of the newly formed Department of Government, later following this promotion by becoming head of the combined Department of Government and Economics in 1919. While at Teachers College, Dr. Meyerholz spent a great deal of effort in finding positions throughout the state for his students, as many of his successful proteges will now gladly testify. The Teachers College educator held many acquaintances throughout Iowa, made in the course of his efforts to found his work "in absentia." It was this work, in which he was a pioneer, which later led to the founding of the Extension Division. Dr. Meyerholz's former students will also testify that he often took a great personal interest in their efforts in other ways. He would, for example, take his students on fishing expeditions up the river. All of these activities Dr. Meyerholz performed with a generous will, but they paid him dividends. When a student became principal of a high school and the time came to secure a baccalaureate or commencement speaker, the student would not forget that Dr. Meyerholz always made a hit on the public platform.
Dr. Meyerholz took great interest in promoting constructive citizenship activities. He believed that government needed a moral base, this belief prompting him to take an active interest in his church. Born at Wapello, Iowa, August 26, 1876, Dr. Meyerholz received the M. Di. degree at Teachers College before the turn in the century. After a few years of teaching and after attending the University of Iowa for a time, he obtained a master's degree from Harvard University in 1905. He studied and traveled in Europe from 1905 to 1908, receiving a Ph. D. degree at Leipzig University in 1907. Before he came to Teachers College, he was successively rural school teacher, public school superintendent, professor of history at the University of Maine, and head of the Department of History at the State Normal College, Emporia, Kansas. He left Cedar Falls for the University of Pittsburg, where he became professor of educational administration and associate director of extension work.
Adapted from an article in the Alumnus, January 1937, page 31.