Philip Lee Cline

Philip Lee Cline, 64, of Lexington, Va., passed away at his home on Tuesday, January 12, 2010. Born in Oklahoma City, Okla., on July 10, 1945, Cline was the son of the late Natha and Maurice Cline. He graduated from Washington and Lee University in 1967 with a degree in economics. After earning his master's and Ph.D. degrees from Oklahoma State University, he returned to Washington and Lee in September 1975 and taught until his retirement from the faculty last June. Cline was the Lewis Whitaker Adams Professor of Management and Economics Emeritus at Washington and Lee. His specialties were statistics, quantitative models, business in a changing world, economics, and management information systems. In 1987, he received the prestigious State Council of Higher Education in Virginia (SCHEV) teaching award, the Commonwealth of Virginia's highest honor for faculty at Virginia's public and private colleges and universities.
Cline was named a Fulbright senior scholar at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago for 1999 to 2000. He was also the recipient of grants from the United Nations, the National Science Foundation, the Ford Foundation and the W&L Class 1965 Endowment for Excellence in Teaching, among others. He was elected to Beta Gamma Sigma, national business honor society; Omicron Delta Epsilon, national economics honor society; and Phi Kappa Phi, national academic honor society.
Active in the Lexington and Rockbridge County communities, Cline was a volunteer with both the United Way and the American Cancer Society, and he served as a youth league soccer coach. He was also a strong supporter of efforts to preserve the Chesapeake Bay.

Cline is survived by his wife, Julie; two children, Benjamin L. Cline and wife, Elizabeth, of Lexington, and Susan E. Cline Lucey and husband, Mark, of Burlington, Vt.; and two grandsons, Emmett and Zinn.
The family will receive friends at a visitation from 5 until 7 p.m. on Saturday, January 16, 2010, at Harrison Funeral Home, 714 Main Street, Lexington, Va. A memorial service will be held 2 p.m. on Sunday, January 17, 2010, at Harrison Funeral Home.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Rockbridge Area Free Clinic, 25 Northridge Lane, Lexington, Va. 24450.