Called “the conscience of the university” by Wittenberg President Baird Tipson, Richard P. “Dick” Veler passed away peacefully in his home on Aug. 4, 2016.
Born Oct. 29, 1936 in Lorain, Ohio, he was the son of Herbert W. Veler, a Lutheran pastor and former Ohio Synod bishop, and Mildred L. Veler, a schoolteacher. A lifelong learner with a passion for literature, Veler went on to earn his B.A. in English from Wittenberg University in 1958, followed by his M.A. in English from Harvard University where he was also a Woodrow Wilson Fellow. In 1964, he completed his Ph.D. in English at The Ohio State University before returning to Wittenberg to begin what would become a career spanning more than three decades as a beloved professor, Mark Twain scholar, editor and senior administrator.
During his tenure, Veler led several initiatives at his alma mater, including the Commission for the Study of the Campus Climate, the Sesquicentennial Celebration and the Task Force on Campus Ministry and Church Relations. Most recently, he facilitated Wittenberg’s Lutheran Identity Study commissioned by the University’s Board of Directors. In addition, Veler chaired the English Department for 12 years and served as University Editor for 14 years, which included editing Wittenberg Today, the flagship alumni publication, and the Wittenberg Review: An Undergraduate Journal of the Liberal Arts. He was later elected general secretary of the University and assistant secretary to the Board.
Outside of Wittenberg, Veler was also called upon to lead, including as an appointed teacher at the Liverpool Institute of Higher Education in England and as president of the College English Association of Ohio, where he served as editor of its journal, English Notes. Veler also represented the state’s private liberal arts colleges when he was appointed to a subcommittee of the Advisory Commission on Articulation between Secondary Education and Colleges, which was responsible to the Ohio Board of Regents.
The recipient of multiple awards, including Wittenberg’s top faculty prize, the Alumni Association Award for Distinguished Teaching in 1977, Veler went on to earn the University’s highest recognition, the Wittenberg Medal of Honor, in 2010. In presenting the award to her colleague, fellow Wittenberg Professor of English Cynthia Richards shared that Veler embodied Wittenberg’s mission, noting how he inspired hundreds of students “to love literature, as well as his ardent devotion to a life fully lived and not measured, as T.S. Eliot would say, in ‘coffee spoons.’” In her words, “he achieved the elusive wholeness of person,” and “modeled a faith in students that continues to guide and sustain” his colleagues and friends alike.
His personal and professional career was defined by creativity, service, compassion and integrity with one colleague calling him “a man of elemental human goodness.” His family’s name lives on at Wittenberg through the Mildred L. Veler Meditation Chapel inside Weaver Chapel, and through an endowed scholarship.
Veler was preceded in death by his wife Suzanne, and his parents, both of whom graduated from Wittenberg in 1929. He is survived by his daughters, Leslie White (Joseph) Caulfield (Short Hills, N.J.), Judith (Don) Spivey of St. Petersburg, Fla., and Barbara Morgan of Clearwater, Fla., and son Jeff (Olga) White of Kansas City, Mo.; two sisters, Lois Mitchum (Newton, N.C.), Wittenberg class of 1962, and Ruth O’Neil (San Diego, Calif.), Wittenberg class of 1961; a brother-in-law, Fred S. Malott (Rosemont, Pa.); a cousin, Lois G. Hoover (Las Vegas, Nev.); several grandchildren and their spouses: Kimberly C. and J. Michael Spivey; J. Andrew Meyer; Philip E., Matthew J. (Amy) and Thomas D. Morgan; Lauren W. (Bradley) Dymond; Sofya G. (Justin) Hauffe; Mikhail S. Galich; and Joseph T., Keegan W. and Caitlin S. Caulfield; and several nieces and nephews: R. Andrew Mitchum; Sarah E. Mitchum Hollingsworth; Dana Gale Morris; and Martha Gale Imler. Three great-grandchildren survive.
The family expresses gratitude to the staffs of the Springfield Regional Cancer Center, Community Mercy Hospice, the Covenant congregation and countless thoughtful friends.
