Dr. Darcy Crenshaw Coyle

Dr. Darcy Crenshaw Coyle had a massive stroke on Sunday September 8, 2002 and passed away the following morning, Monday (September 9, 2002). Born in Trigg County, Kentucky, on October 26, 1918, the son of Delphus C. and Stella Vivian Coyle, he graduated in the class of 1936 from Central High School in Battle Creek, Michigan, and joined the U.S. Navy two months later. In 1938, he received a Fleet appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy and was commissioned in December 1941. After spending World War II aboard aircraft carriers in the Atlantic and Pacific, he resigned as a lieutenant commander in December, 1946. At Harvard Business School, received M.B.A. degree in 1948 and a D.B.A. degree in 1962. Married to Vera Constance Purtell, 1941-1969. For some years, Dr. Coyle was active as an industrial engineer and business consultant, both in the United States and Europe. He was chief engineer of A.G. Spaulding Brothers and held positions with Sylvania Electronics and Gillette Safety Razor Company. As an academic, Dr. Coyle taught at Babson College 1949-51, Harvard Business School 1957-59, Boston University 1959-61, and the Hartford Graduate Center of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 1961-73. In 1973, he was elected president of Nichols College in Dudley, Massachusetts. In 1978, he became president of Upper Iowa University in Fayette, Iowa, retiring as President Emeritus in 1984. In March of 1969, Dr. Coyle was married to Barbara Jane Moore Crossley of Battle Creek, Michigan. Over the years, Dr. Coyle had many guest appointments to teach in Europe. These included assignments at IMEDE Management institute, Lausanne, Switzerland 1967-68, Regent Street Polytechnic in London 1965, Watford Polytechnic in Hertfordshire, England 1966-68, Oxford University, England 1967-71 and the Scottish College of Textiles, Scotland 1969. After his retirement, Dr. Coyle was sent to Indonesia in 1985 by the International Executive Service Corps to make a feasibility study toward setting up a business college in that country. After moving to the Peterborough and Keene, NH communities in 1985, Dr. Coyle became an active member of the Service Corps of Retired Executives. For two years, he acted as director of the Small Business Development Center in southwestern New Hampshire. He was also an adjunct instructor at New England College and Keene State College. Also after retirement Dr. Coyle completed a book, entitled "CENSORED MAIL, WW II Aboard Carriers USS Ranger and USS Randolph," published in 1989. Dr. and Mrs. Coyle moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan in the spring of 1993. In Michigan, he became very active in the Grand Rapids chapter of the Service Corps of Retired Executives SCORE, becoming chairman for the 1999-2000 season. He is survived by his wife, Barbara Jane Coyle, of Grand Rapids, MI; daughter Rebecca Kay Coyle and Granddaughter, Sasha Alshuk, both of Wethersfield; and three sisters, Mary Maree Purtell of Stoughton, MA, Lorene Blanck of Bronson, MI, and Ruth Louise Pierce of Leesburg, FL. There was a Memorial service in the Clark Retirement Chapel on Thursday September 12 and a committal service at the gravesite in Battle Creak Oakhill Cemetery on Tuesday September 17.