DAVID S. ARNOLD

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Lafayette College Syracuse University

DAVID ARNOLD Obituary

ARNOLD DAVID SCOTT ARNOLD August 16, 1920 ~ August 8, 2014 David Arnold was born in Findlay, Ohio, the third son of Ed and Florence Arnold. He attended Lafayette College and received his bachelor's degree in 1942. For the next year he attended the Maxwell School at Syracuse University, receiving his master's degree in public administration in 1943. From 1943 to 1949 he was on the field staff of the Public Administration Service (PAS), a consulting organization that specialized in management studies for local and state governments. He spent much of his time with PAS in position classification and pay plan work for the states of Illinois and Ohio and for the non-academic personnel of the Universities of Minnesota, Colorado, and Puerto Rico. From 1949 until his retirement in 1985, Mr. Arnold was on the staff of the International City/County Management Association. In the latter part of his ICMA tenure, he was publications director. He was instrumental in the expansion and upgrade of the Municipal Management Series, training books for city managers, police chiefs, fire chiefs, and finance officers in local government. The books were widely used by management personnel and formed a significant part of the public administration curricula in many colleges and universities Along with Jeremy F. Plant, he was co-author of Public Official Associations in Local and State Government-A Bridge Across One Hundred Years. Mr. Arnold's memberships included Pi Alpha Alpha, the honor society in public administration, and honorary memberships in both the International City/County Management Association and Delta Kappa Epsilon, a social organization. Mr. Arnold was married in 1953 to his beloved wife, Catherine Fury (1919 - 2010). They are survived by their children, daughter Susan Arnold of Chicago, and son and daughter-in-law David Arnold and Susan Dobson Arnold, both residents of Alexandria. He is pre-deceased by his brothers, George and Edward, and survived by nieces and nephews John Arnold, Emily Rocque, Penny Fredlund, Chris Arnold, Nancy Arnold Goodno, Marti Alston, Heidi Arnold, and Jas Arnold. During the early years of their marriage, the Arnolds lived in Chicago. In 1967 they moved to northern Virginia. At the time of his death, Mr. Arnold was a resident of Goodwin House Bailey's Crossroads, a continuing care retirement community. Services will be private.

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Published by The Washington Post on Aug. 12, 2014.

Memories and Condolences
for DAVID ARNOLD

5 Entries

Richard Forstall

September 7, 2014

It's close to fifty years since I first met Dave. Rand McNally, where I was working then, was a major consumer of information on cities, including such arcane aspects as territorial annexations, about which ICMA used to conduct an annual survey. Both organizations shared an interest in classifications of cities, and over time I contributed several articles to the Municipal Yearbook on these topics. Dave and Catherine were very hospitable, and over many excellent Hungarian-flavored dinners I got well acquainted with them and enjoyed watching their children growing up.

As it happened, the Arnolds moved from Chicago to Northern Virginia a few years before I did, and after I arrived they were very helpful in orienting me to sights, vendors, and other necessities of modern metropolitan existence. Catherine's Christmas Eve dinners, often for a dozen or more guests, were an annual highlight. More recently, they and I both relocated to separate Goodwin House retirement homes located barely a mile apart.

Dave provided years of useful service to ICMA and in retirement maintained a keen ongoing interest in the world of municipal administration. But he had a range of other interests, and I don't remember our ever running out of things to talk about. Moreover, he had a common-sense approach to most issues, such that discussion remained firmly planted in the observable world, disinclined to gravitate to lofty inspections of theoretical concepts. I miss his friendliness, his intellectual honesty, and his evident enjoyment, even in his nineties, of life and all its possibilities.

~ Richard L. Forstall
Formerly Senior Research Editor, Cartographic Division, Rand McNally & Company, and
Chief, Population Distribution Branch, Population Division, U.S. Census Bureau

Christine Becker

August 15, 2014

I had the privilege of working with Dave at ICMA early in my public administration career. He was a great teacher and valued colleague who helped me become a much better writer. I still have a memo he wrote many years ago complimenting a course guide I had written, including specifics about what he liked about the guide. I cherished the feedback from such a skilled writer/editor.

James M Banovetz

August 13, 2014

Dave Arnold was and will continue to be a "Giant of the Earth" in the professionalization of American local government management. He, more than any other person, was responsible for the development of the professional literature and educational materials which promoted, sustained, and strengthened the city/county management profession. ICMA's "Green Books," as they came to be known,were Dave's enduring contribution to the local government management profession. He designed, commissioned, edited, and assured the quality of the books up until his retirement. The books, in turn, provided both the intellectual underpinning of the modern city/county management profession and the training materials that were such a necessary part of ICMA's efforts to meet the rapidly growing demand for professional city/county managers in the last half of the 20th century.

Jeremy Plant

August 12, 2014

Dave was a wonderful gentleman and professional colleague. He exemplified the best in the profession of public service. It was a privilege to work with him and enjoy his friendship.

Kurt Thurmaier, Chair, Public Administration Department

August 12, 2014

We are very sorry to learn of the passing of David Arnold, namesake for the David and Catherine Arnold Fellowship for professional development of minority public administrators.

David was a paragon of public service virtue, and we are proud to know that he considered the NIU MPA as one of the finest local government programs in the world. The fellows we select in his and Catherine's names will have a high standard of ethical public leadership to follow.

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