Michael Pfau Obituary
This obituary was originally published in the Star Tribune.
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Peter McKone
July 29, 2009
Mike was my debate partner at the University of New Hampshire in 1970. He taught me that you should win by working harder and being the better debater, rather than resorting to tricks. Ginger, I still have fond memories of those bridge games when you lived in Portsmouth.
Allan Louden
March 27, 2009
March 27, 2009
Ginger, I very much appreciated your note.
I had a wonderful visit with Cindy Leiferman last night at the NDT. Her speech remembering Mike's contributions was appropriate and touching.
That you have a Golden Retriever, is not a surprise, as it should be. Thanks for sharing that thought.
M Wynn
March 18, 2009
Dr. Pfau, will be missed very much in Norman.
My thoughts and prayers are with the family during this very difficult time.
David Lapakko
March 17, 2009
Although I hadn't really talked to Mike in more than 30 years--when we were both debate coaches at the two high schools in Roseville back then--I have always felt privileged to have known him. In the 1970s, Mike almost singlehandedly transformed academic debate in Minnesota--he was amazingly organized, dedicated, smart, and gifted. And, as I learned more than once in those days, he was a way better poker player than I! Mike has no doubt left a lasting legacy within his family; being in the academic world, his legacy for me involves his prolific scholarship in persuasion and argumentation--his name will indeed live on.
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John Clawson (BHS '63)
March 17, 2009
Hi, Ginger...please accept myy deepest expression of regret on Michael's passing....I am so sorry for you and for your family....I always understood that he was having a wonderful acadmic career and the comments posted here only confirm that....I thought you might like to know a PRE-academic career story that has always been important to me....that I have thought about an astonishing (unsettling??) number of times over the years since we graduated from high school....It concerns the most humiliating day of my life and Mike's role in it....I had signed up for debate with Mr. Chapman (in our junior year?)....not because I knew anything about debate, because I didn't, but just because it seemed like it might be interesting....Mike and I were assigned to the same team in the preliminary instruction and exercises....when it came time for our first real debate activity I was petrified because, despite Mr. Chapman's best efforts, I literally had no real idea what I was to do.....when it came time for me as negative II to make my presentation and close I actually, literally, and truly had no idea what to do...I froze...I sat there, humilated and embarrassed....Mr. Chapman was apoplectic.....Mike was compelled to make HIS statement AND mine, spontaneously and EXTRA extemporaneously....and afterwards spent no little time explaining to me HOW this worked, HOW to frame an argument, HOW to deliver it, HOW to cooperate with a teammate in making it work.....all of which he did (not surprisingly to you) with grace, calmness, dignity and a sense of fun, and far more skill than I would ever scrounge up...WHY I have thought so often about that event/afternoon I don't want to explore too much.....I never did well in debate, but it was really one of the most helpful classes I took in high school....and every time, literally, that I have had to make an organized argument throughout my life and various careers I have recalled that afternoon and Mike's response to my non-performance......I often wanted to ask him if he remembered that occasion (why would he??)...and hoped you guys would come to a reunion so I could ask him...It was an important event in my life.....Again, my sympathy on Mike's death.....May God grant him eternal rest, may he find joy in the company of all the blessed dead in Christ...may he live forever in the light of joy. And may peace and healing be a rich gift from the God of love to you and your family.
Allan Louden
March 17, 2009
Mike was a good friend and colleague via debate and Pol Comm for 30+ years, more tournaments and NCA conventions than one should count. Mike inspired but more importantly his loyalty and grounded persona invited life time friends. He will be sorely missed.
Karen Beenken
March 16, 2009
Dear Ginger and family,
Having been a friend of Ginger's since our Augsburg days, I can remember when Ginger first dated Michael. While one never knows what life holds, Michael's illness and death surely took him away from his loving family and friends much too soon. My deepest sympathy to all of you at this sad time.
Larry S. Richardson
March 16, 2009
Mike, while never a close friend, was a debate associate I knew as a person with the highest moral integrity and a true dedication to scholarly excellence. These qualities were rare. Mike never indulged in the opportunism too often seen in competitive forensics. His passing makes me sad and reflective about a very good man.
Stephen Koch
March 16, 2009
Mike has been such a powerful role model for so many that his loss is going to be felt for some time to come. I first met him as a debate opponent when he debated at NH and I at Iowa. Later, working at Mike's institute at Augustana I had the opportunity to meet Ginger and the family and interact closely with Mike's debaters and the many other staff at the Workshop, all of whom were impressed by his insight and organizational energy. I could write much more about the breadth of what Mike accomplished as a coach, chair of a department at a small Lutheran college, scholar, researcher, ending up chairing a major program; but I am mostly just hurting at the loss of a contemporary and friend and trying to imagine the pain Ginger and the family are feeling. Most certainly Mike was one of the good guys and the sort of person that makes one better just for the knowing.
Loretta Wilhoite
March 16, 2009
Dearest Ginger and family,
I'm praying for God to send his Angels to comfort you all. Michael's life on earth has been so full and he has helped so many students to have a better life. And he loves his family so much! Now he can share his love for life with Jesus. I'm with you in spirit!
Love and prayers, Loretta Wilhoite
Kurt Ritter
March 16, 2009
Michael is an inspiration to me. Even though he had established a highly successful and secure college faculty career as a debate coach with an M.A. degree, his quest to contribute more widely and deeply to what we know about communication and persuasion led him to enter a Ph.D. program and then launch a research career of great consequence. I admire him greatly. His is a great loss to his academic field. My thoughts are with his family at this difficult time.
David Thomas
March 16, 2009
My condolences to Ginger and the family. I was Mike's co-author on the book Debate and Argument. Mike was a friend as well as working colleague. I will remember his kind nature and his sense of humor. He died too young.
Linda Suppinger-Prichard
March 16, 2009
What a wonderful man Michael is! I know how much loved he was and how much he will be missed.
Our whole family sends our love and condolences to Michael's family.
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