Penn State Behrend’s first director, Ferguson, dies at 92
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| T. Reed Ferguson, speaking during a 1999 alumni reunion at Penn State Behrend, was the college’s first administrator. |
T. Reed Ferguson, the first director of Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, died Wednesday, January 16, at Foxdale Village in State College. He was 92.
Ferguson graduated from Penn State in 1936 and took graduate courses at Penn State, Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania. He began his professional tenure with the University in 1942, serving as an instructor of fine arts until 1945 at the Pottsville campus, currently Penn State Schuylkill. He was later named assistant administrator at the campus after having left to serve as a field director with the Red Cross at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
In June 1948, Mary Behrend donated the family’s 400-acre Glenhill Farm to Penn State, creating the Behrend Center. Less than a month later, Ferguson was appointed as the first administrative head of the center. By fall 1948, 146 students enrolled as the first class of what is now Penn State Behrend.
Ferguson led Penn State Behrend until 1954, at which time he relocated to University Park to direct the university’s Adult Conference Center. Four years later, Ferguson became director of university relations and, in 1969, was named vice president for public affairs. He retired from Penn State in 1975.
Penn State Behrend honored Ferguson in 1988 with its Behrend Medallion. The award is presented to an individual who, by serving society and attaining eminence in the public arena, brings honor to himself, the college community and mankind. Penn State Behrend later created the T. Reed Ferguson Award, which recognizes a junior who has demonstrated scholarship, leadership and citizenship that has impacted fellow students through academic and out-of-class involvement and gives promise of further achievement in the senior year.
In 2003, Penn State named one of the West Campus Housing Complex buildings T. Reed Ferguson Jr. Hall in recognition of his years of dedicated service. He was also named an outstanding alumnus of the College of Education.
Ferguson stayed active well into his retirement, first traveling to Switzerland for a position with Supelco of Bellefonte. He lived there for one year to start a branch of the business. After eight years of traveling with his wife, Cornelia Carpenter, Ferguson settled at St. Simon’s Island, Ga. There he researched cotton planters and plantations on the Sea Islands and later wrote the related biography, “The John Couper Family at Cannon’s Point” (Mercer University Press). In 1996 he edited and annotated “The 1836 London Diary of James Stratton Carpenter, M.D.,” published by Minerva Press of London.
Ferguson also enjoyed volunteering, and was active with the Red Cross, Centre Community Hospital—now known as Mount Nittany Medical Center—plus museums and historical organizations. He served on the board of directors for the State College Area Chamber of Commerce for nine years and was president from 1967-68. The chamber later awarded him a Life Membership plaque. Ferguson served on the vestry of St. Andrews Episcopal Church and was on the board of directors for the Friends of the Palmer Museum at Penn State.
According to his family, one of his greatest regrets later in life was no longer being able to help others after suffering a stroke in 1999.
Ferguson was born May 11, 1915, the son of Dr. Thomas Reed Ferguson and Mable McComb Ferguson of Kirkwood, Pa., in Lancaster County. He was preceded in death by his wife. He is survived by his daughter, Cornelia Ferguson Bettinger, of La Conner, Wash., and her husband Dicken Bettinger; two grandchildren, Nina Bettinger Tallering and her husband Michael Tallering of Anacortes, Wash., and Benjamin Ferguson Bettinger of Portland, Ore.; and one great-grandson, Jacob Reed Tallering of Anacortes, Wash.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Penn State Behrend, Palmer Museum of Art at University Park or Foxdale Village Employee Appreciation Fund.
Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, is a comprehensive residential college offering 32 baccalaureate, six associate, four pre-professional and two graduate degree programs with 22 minors to more than 4,400 students. Focused on providing a student-centered environment, Penn State Behrend is the link that connects its students to a major research and land-grant institution on a campus enriched by more than 110 clubs and organizations, 21 NCAA varsity teams, 19 intramural sports and modern facilities. For more information, visit behrend.psu.edu.