Dr. Barbara Losty

Dr. Barbara Losty

Jacksonville, FL - Dr. Barbara Losty of Jacksonville, FL, died on September 21, 2019. She was the daughter of Drs. Henry and Mary Paul of Norwich, NY, and is survived by a brother, Denny (wife Diane) Paul of Carmel, CA and a sister, Ellen Paul, of Waterville, ME. Barbara grew up in Norwich where she graduate from Norwich High School in 1960 with a Regents Diploma with Honors Scientific. She graduate from Wellesley College with a major in psychology. After working for a year at the Fels Research Institute, Yellow Springs, Ohio, she married Dr. Thomas Losty from Pleasant Mount, PA. Tom was a graduate student at the University of Connecticut, and Barbara taught third grade for a semester. Their daughter, Ellen, was born in September, 1966. Barbara earned a Masters Degree in Experimental Psychology in 1969 and a Ph.D. in Child and Developmental Psychology in 1971.

While Tom began study toward a doctorate in Biochemistry, Barbara began a career in higher education. She taught Psychology at Westminster College in Fulton, MO. She accepted a teaching position at Stephens College where she moved into administration both in a college without walls program and later as Associate Dean of Faculty. She published the first research articles on adult learners in non-traditional degree programs. In 1985 she accepted a position as Campus Dean at the University of Wisconsin - Sheboygan County. After five years Barbara resigned that position to rejoin her husband who had begun to work for Swisher International, Inc. and was transferred to New Jersey. Barbara took a position as Associate Dean for Human Services Degrees at Thomas Edison State College in Newark, NJ. Tom was again transferred, this time to Jacksonville, FL. Barbara was offered the position of President of Waycross College, a freshman-sophomore transfer institution pf the University System of Georgia from which she retired in August 2006 as President Emeritus. She served twice as President of the Waycross Rotary Club and was a Paul Harris Fellow.

Tom and Barbara purchased a home in Jacksonville, where Tom continued to works as Vice President for Research and Development for Swisher International, Inc. until his retirement in May 2013. Barbara was a volunteer poll worker for Jacksonville elections and a volunteer for the Regency branch of the Jacksonville Public Library for several years until illness limited her ability to breathe without assistance from external oxygen.

She was elected to the Board of Trustees of the James M. Dye Foundation of the James M. Dye Foundation of Waycross College, later the Waycross branch of South Georgia State College. She established the OWLs (Older Wiser Learners) grant to encourage older learners to begin studies at Waycross College. She also assisted in moving the Drs. Mary & Henry Paul Scholarship to the American Chemical Society in Binghamton, NY from the no longer active chapter in Norwich, NY. Tom and she established the Michael C. Niles Grant in Art to award a cash gift to an outstanding student each semester.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations to be made to the Michael C. Niles Grant in Art scholarship at University of Missouri, or the Drs. Mary & Henry Paul scholarship fund in Binghamton, NY in her honor.