Dr. Samuel Templeman Gladding, 76, of Winston-Salem died December 6, 2021, at the Kate B. Reynolds Hospice Home.
He was born in Decatur, GA, the son of the late Russell and Gertrude Gladding. He is survived by his wife of 35 years, Claire Gladding of Winston-Salem, sons Ben Gladding (Sara) of Casablanca, Morocco, Nate Gladding, and Tim Gladding of Winston-Salem, and grandsons Leo Templeman Gladding and Samuel Chisesi Gladding of Casablanca. He is also survived by his brother, Russell Gladding (Kathy) of Vidalia, Georgia, his sister Peggy Smith of Atlanta, and many loving family, friends, students, and colleagues.
He received a Bachelor of Arts in history at Wake Forest, a Master of Arts in religion at Yale, a Master of Arts in counseling at Wake Forest and a Ph.D. in family relations at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Dr. Gladding also completed a post-doctorate in psychology at UNC-G. At Wake Forest, he was in the Army ROTC program and completed his military service in the Army Reserves at Fort Lee, VA. In 2016, he was inducted into the Army ROTC National Hall of Fame.
Dr. Gladding was internationally recognized as a prolific author of books on counseling and served as a professor of counseling at Wake Forest University for over 30 years. During his career, he traveled worldwide speaking, teaching, and consulting. He served as president of the American Counseling Association as well as other national and international counseling associations and was honored with an extensive list of awards for his writing, professional service, and mentorship.
Before beginning his academic career, he was director of children's services at the Rockingham County (NC) Counseling Center. Before joining the Wake Forest faculty, he was a faculty member at Rockingham Community College, Fairfield University (CT) and the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
In 1990, he arrived at Wake Forest as a professor of counseling and assistant to the president for special projects. He served as an assistant to the late President Thomas K. Hearn Jr. from 1990 to 1997. From 1997 to 2007, he was an associate provost at Wake Forest. Dr. Gladding played a leading role in transitioning counseling from being a program in the Department of Education to being the Department of Counseling. He chaired the department for many years. He was also called upon to counsel the families of victims of the 9/11 terrorist attack and the 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech during his tenure.
Dr. Gladding's enthusiasm for teaching and mentoring students in and out of the classroom was well known. He led counseling graduate students on academic visits to Wake Forest's residential study center in Vienna, Austria, accompanied students to India to volunteer at Mother Theresa's facilities that serve the poor and dying, and in recent years, taught at Wake Forest's program for first-year undergraduates in Copenhagen, Denmark. While much of his teaching at Wake Forest was with graduate counseling students, he continued to teach undergraduates regularly. He also volunteered as a faculty fellow in on-campus residence halls as well as a faculty advisor for the APO service organization.
A memorial service will be held on January 29th at 2 PM in Wait Chapel on the campus of Wake Forest University.
Covid-19 protocols will be observed, attendees will be required to wear a face mask and show proof of vaccination. The service will be streamed at https://go.wfu.edu/gladdingservice. A link will also be found on the Wake Forest Department of Counseling website.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Gladding Memorial Scholarship or the Samuel T. Gladding Endowment for the Department of Counseling, P.O. Box 7227, Winston-Salem, NC, 27109 or online at giving.wfu.edu.
Online condolences may be made at www.salemfh.com.
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