William B. Ward

WILLIAM B. WARD
William Binnington Ward, 90, of Ithaca, New York and resident of Kendal at Ithaca, died on Sunday, April 27, 2008 at Cayuga Medical Center surrounded by his loving wife, Thora, and family following a brief illness.
Born in Idaho Falls, Idaho on July 16, 1917, Bill had a highly accomplished professional career in international communications and journalism and as a scholar and academic administrator. Above all else he was a cherished husband, father, grandfather, friend, and warm, caring human being. He graduated from Utah State University in 1940 with a major in English and agricultural journalism. During his senior year at Utah State University he married the love of his life, lifetime partner, and friend, Thora Bracken, a student at Utah State. They started their wedded life and family in Logan, Utah where their first child, AnnLyn, was born. Upon graduation from Utah State he went to the University of Wisconsin as a graduate teaching assistant in the Department of Agricultural Journalism and received the Master of Science degree in 1941. During the following four years, he was an information specialist and chief of a press section for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and its War Food Administration in Washington, D. C. where he was given the assignment of reporting on available food supplies for Hawaii in case of a Japanese blockade. It was here that their first son, Bracken, was born.
Bill was invited to come to Cornell University in 1945 as full professor and department head at age 28. This was quite remarkable for such a young man to be given this responsibility, but then he was a remarkable person. Moving to Ithaca was the beginning of a 63-year love affair with Cornell University, teaching, Cayuga Lake and the Robert Trent Jones Golf Course. He and his wife Thora added two additional children to their family after moving to Ithaca, Cristen and Alan. At Cornell he organized and helped develop a new department that combined teaching, extension, and research functions in the field of communication. The new department – first named Extension Teaching and Information, now called Department of Communication – included agricultural journalism and public speaking courses and divisions for the production of publications, visual aids, news services, and radio, television, and film programs. Over several years he worked on compiling the history of the department which was published in 2000 – a work of joy and a major contribution to the history of the Department of Communications and Cornell University.
During his 26-year tenure as head of the department (1945-1971), Professor Ward assembled an outstanding faculty and staff of communication specialists who had significant effect on the field of communication in the U.S. Land-grant University System, especially by helping set standards of quality. During that period, the department won more national awards for excellence than any other land-grant university. Many new courses were added to the department's curriculum with increasing student enrollments, and a new graduate program was initiated in 1969.
Professor Ward had extensive international experience in the Philippines, Argentina, India, Nigeria, Syria, Indonesia, Guatemala and Honduras where he: developed communication programs for nationwide agricultural research and extension agencies; planned and helped create the communication centers at agricultural universities; prepared annual publications documenting the most significant research and published them for worldwide distribution; and developed major publication programs for international distribution. His family had the privilege of traveling with him and living in many of these locations as they were growing up. His wife was his constant companion.
Professor Ward taught communication courses at Cornell for 56 years from 1945 to 2001 during which time students benefited from his experiences and expertise and went on to distinguished themselves in the fields of journalism and international communications including major correspondents for the NY Times, Associated Press, and major international publications. He was a member of the university faculty during the "regimes" of seven out of eleven Cornell presidents. Appointed Professor Emeritus at Cornell University in 1988, a publication and conference room in Kennedy Hall was named in his honor. In 1998, he received the Award of Excellence by the Agricultural Communicators in Education, a national and international professional organization, in recognition of his "substantial and creative contributions to the communication/information technology profession and leadership and involvement over so many years in international activities." He is the author and editor of several books and educational publications and more than 400 of his articles have been published in national and regional agricultural magazines. Beginning in 1982, he was included in "Who's Who in America."
Organizations in which he has been a member include Agricultural Communicators in Education, International Union of Agricultural Journalists, Sigma Delta Chi (national journalistic fraternity), American Agricultural Editors' Association, and the Rotary Club of Ithaca, NY. Since early childhood, he was a member of the Mormon Church. Among his volunteer work was helping to build houses in Vero Beach, FL for Habitat for Humanity and assisting 4th grade students in Cayuga Heights School to improve their writing. His daily reading, as recently as Thursday, April 24, to the children at the Kendal Day Care Center brought him much pleasure.
A remarkable and much loved man, Bill was a mentor and beacon of inspiration. He urged others to realize their dreams and talents. His generous, warm, knowledgeable, dedicated, and inspiring self has been a beacon not only to his family, but also to many others.
At Bill's request no memorial service will be held. There will, however, be a gathering with the family at Kendal in the Living Room from 9:30am to 10:30am Saturday, May 3 to be followed by a private service at the graveside at Pleasant Grove Cemetery. Those wishing to remember Professor Ward may do so through memorials to the William B. Ward Scholarship Fund, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853. The family also welcomes remembrances of Bill from colleagues, friends, and loved ones through email: williambwardtribute@ gmail.com.
Survivors include: His cherished wife of 69 years Thora B. Ward of 903 Savage Farm Drive, Ithaca; two daughters, AnnLyn Welles (Dr. Peter) of Cold Spring Harbor, NY; Cristen Lee Gardner (Dr. Richard) of Ithaca, NY; two sons William Bracken Ward (Patsy) of Chanhassen, MN; and Alan Miller Ward (Jean) of Rhinebeck, NY; ten grandchildren (Daisy Burns, Ward Welles, Suzanne Beste, Richard and Crista Ward, Randy Moore, Monica Shupe, and Bracken, Loren and Ross Gardner); and eleven great grandchildren.