William Roy Whipple

Obituary of William Whipple

William Roy Whipple died at 78 on March 27, of complications of a rare congenital disorder, occult spinal dysraphia ("tethered cord"), which gradually made him totally paraplegic. He had adapted bravely to its encroachments, driving with special hand controls until four years ago and living independently until last year.

Bill grew up in Binghamton, New York, with parents Thornton Wilson Whipple and Olive Hancock Whipple. He attended Swarthmore College and followed favorite professors to graduate schools in psychology at U. Penn, Harvard, and University of California, San Diego, getting his Ph.D. from UCSD. He made a career of establishing honors colleges in broad-spectrum universities-enriched programs for superior students. He ran these at State University of New York, Oswego, University of Maine, Orono, and University of Arkansas Little Rock, before becoming associate academic dean of Albright College in Reading, PA. He co-wrote a definitive book, Evaluating Honors Programs (National Collegiate Honors Council, 1990). In 1994 he was made dean of students at Bethany College in West Virginia, but in 2000 developed near-fatal liver failure as an unrecognized side-effect of a medication. When he recovered he left academia to pursue a less pressured career as a graphic designer, from which he never entirely retired.

He volunteered in many eclectic projects, in particular as stage sound designer for the Players Club of Swarthmore and other theaters, including Hedgerow Theater in Media, PA, and Synetic Theater in Washington, DC. He co-edited a collection of reminiscences about the TV show What's My Line, collected and edited a montage of orchestra conductors' techniques, and wrote and edited a wide variety of Wikipedia articles. Subjects of these included the prominent Gestalt psychologist Hans Wallach, for whom he was scientific executor; the cooking author Irma S. Rombauer; behavioral economics; and the Guarneri Quartet, among others. His friends especially welcomed the surprising mixed CDs of Christmas music that he selected, edited, and sent out every fall until 2022. He said he "got a great deal of spiritual enrichment through music."

Bill's gracious good nature made everyone he encountered feel warm toward him, and recruited support among his caretakers in his final months. He is survived by his younger brothers Robert Whipple of Hilton, NY and Frederick Whipple of Anaheim, CA, and ex-wife Katherine Ann Kennedy Whipple of Washington, DC. Memorial services will be private. In his will he asked that contributions in his memory be made to the Players Club of Swarthmore, Box 236, Swarthmore, PA 19081.