Michael Edgar Bohleber

Michael Edgar Bohleber

1/25/1933 – 12/09/2025 Age 92

Michael was born in St. Joseph Michigan to Carl F. Bohleber and Nadine Nichols Bohleber and spent his early years at his family’s estate in Berrien Springs. His father was a Soil Conservationist who managed several Depression Era projects throughout the Southeastern States. A position that moved the family to many locations in Georgia and Florida.

Michael graduated from Brown High School in 1950 in Atlanta Georgia, where he had been an award-winning track star. By being the highest ranking ROTC officer in the Atlanta region, he was granted an appointment to West Point, which he turned down because of his desires to go into the ministry.

Upon the start of WWII, his father was brought back into military service as an Army Air Corps officer and following the war, continued as an Air Force Lt. Col. At age 19, Michael enlisted in the Air Force and because of over-recruiting for the Korean Conflict, served only two years.

He received his bachelors degree in Philosophy and masters in Psychology at the University of Georgia.

He married Elizabeth Beale of Macon Georgia in 1955 and served as the Assistant Dean of Men at the University of Georgia until 1961 when he moved north to earn his Doctorate in Social Psychology at the University of Wisconsin.

His first teaching assignment was at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater Ok. Following the higher education system’s re-organizational crisis of the late 60s, he became a Department Head for Health Education and Welfare in Washington D.C.

For the decade of the 70s, he managed mental health facilities in Atlanta Ga. and Jackson Tennessee.

In 1981, he went back to his “first love” of teaching at Georgia Southwestern University in Americus Ga. where he earned tenure as a professor in the Business School. He was active in the Asian Studies Program and kept several Japanese Businessmen in his home over the next ten years, introducing a few of them to his close acquaintance, former President Jimmy Carter of Plains Georgia, just nine miles from Americus. He also was instrumental in growing a collaborative relationship with Business Schools in France, whereby French students, as well as business/factory owners could share best practices and business dynamics between the two countries.

As friends with Millard and Linda Fuller in Americus, he became highly involved with Habitat for Humanity and was a valued carpenter for many mass builds throughout the South.

He retired and moved to Waynesville in 1997.

Michael was a prolific short-story writer, an artist, a master woodworking and cabinet maker (a family tradition), a member of several church choirs, and served as a community volunteer at Haywood Regional Hospital and was awarded Volunteer of the Year at Haywood Christian Ministry. Michael enjoyed white-water canoeing and ran rivers throughout the South for two decades. He was also an avid hiker and logged hundreds of miles on the Appalachian trail and the Muir trail in California.

He was a man of integrity and tried to live Christian values, as he interpreted them. He taught his two sons the practice of Continuous Self-Improvement, as well as artistic appreciation, the love of classical music, woodworking craftsmanship, and the art of staying dry while negotiating class II and III white water.

Michael developed dementia several years ago and lived comfortably until his death at home, being cared for by his son.

He is proceeded in death by his wife Elizabeth of 69 years, two sisters, and his eldest son Michael VI, in 2014. Survived by his son, Carl F. Bohleber II known as Rick and four grandchildren, two of whom serve actively, one in the US Air Force and a one in US Naval Intelligence.