Dr. Marion David "Soc" Socolofsky

Dr. Marion David ""Soc"" Socolofsky, a resident of Baton Rouge and a native of Marion, Kansas, died Friday November 2, 2012 in Baton Rouge. He was 81 years old. Born September 23, 1931 to A.L. and Mary Belle Reneau Socolofsky, he was the youngest of four children and the youngest of 35 first cousins. After early years in Marion, he moved to Manhattan, KS, where he met his lifelong sweetheart, Esther Green, and graduated from Kansas State University. After graduating, he entered the US Air Force, received Masters and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Texas and served at Eglin AFB. In 1961, he joined the faculty at Louisiana State University and became chairman of the Microbiology Department in 1968. Over the next three decades, he taught more than 13,500 undergraduate students, served on more than 60 Ph.D. committees, chaired numerous committees relating to the sciences at LSU, including the committee that gained funding for construction of the Life Sciences Building and another that coordinated acquisition of a scanning electron microscope. He was active in the American Society for Microbiology and its South Central Branch, the Louisiana Society for Electron Microscopy, Sigma XI, Omicron Delta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi and the LSU Science Club. In 1991, he was named an Alumni Professor at LSU and in 1992 received the Outstanding Teacher Award in the College of Basic Sciences. The Microscopy Facility at LSU is named in his honor. A lifelong athlete, he played softball into his 60's and Senior Olympic basketball until the day of his sudden decline. He was an active member of University United Methodist Church, where he sang in the choir, served in leadership capacities and supported the development of more than 1,000 youth. As photographer, videographer and an unofficial archivist, he generously preserved and shared with others records of university activities, church history, musical performances, weddings and special events. Survived by his wife Esther, daughters Kathleen Socolofsky Gregoire (of Davis, CA) and Mary Sue Ingraham (of Scottsdale, AZ), sons-in-law Bob Gregoire and Paul Ingraham, grandsons John and David Ingraham, sister Mildred Lindholm, sisters-in-law Helen Socolofsky and Ruth Stockinger, brothers-in-law John Lindholm, Jim Graham and Alden Stockinger, 8 nephews, 9 nieces and 14 great nieces, 14 great nephews, 5 grand nieces and 12 grand nephews. Preceded in death by his parents, his brother Homer and his sister Dorothy Graham. Visitation at Rabenhorst Funeral Home, 825 Government St., Thursday November 8, 5-7 pm; Funeral Services 11 am Friday, November 9, at University United Methodist Church, 3350 Dalrymple., conducted by Dr. Van Stinson. Interment will be in Greenoaks Memorial Park. Pallbearers will be Dean Kevin Carman, Dr. William Hamilton, William H. Patrick III, Dr. Henry Patrick, Robert Socolofsky and David Stockinger. Visit www.rabenhorst.com to sign the online register book. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the M.D. Socolofsky Memorial Fund at University United Methodist Church, 3350 Dalrymple, Baton Rouge, LA 70802 or the Marion D. Socolofsky Memorial Fund in the LSU Foundation, 3838 W. Lakeshore Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70808. A special thanks to his fellow Senior Olympics basketball players, Baton Rouge General Hospital and Hospice of Baton Rouge for their loving care.