Saint Mary's Magazine Winter 2003 - Saint Mary's University of ...

CAMPUS NEWS
Brother George
Pahl, former
president, dies at 87
Brother L. George Pahl, FSC, Ph.D.,
87, died Jan. 19 in Winona. Brother
George was a former president and
professor of biology at then-Saint
Mary’s College.
Born Francis Kenneth Pahl in
Minneapolis, he took the name
Leonian George Pahl when he
joined the De La Salle Christian
Brothers in 1932. Brother George
earned degrees in biology from
Saint Mary’s College (1936),
De Paul University (1943) and
University of Notre Dame (1953).
Brother George taught biology
at DeLaSalle High School, Chicago,
from 1936-42. He joined the
faculty of Saint Mary’s College in
1942. In 1969, Brother George
became Saint Mary’s 10th
president, succeeding Brother
Gregory Robertson, FSC.
Brother George served as
president until 1976, overseeing the
admission of the college’s first
female students in 1969, the
expansion of enrollment and the
physical campus, and the
reorganization of the college’s
academic and administrative
structure. During his tenure,
corporate control and ownership
were transferred from the Christian
Brothers to a separately
incorporated board of trustees, and
a Tri-College agreement on student
exchange was reached in 1971 that
included the College of Saint Teresa
and Winona State University.
Upon retirement from Saint
Mary’s, Brother George taught
bioethics and radiation biology at
De La Salle University in the
Philippines.
Brother George was a
nationally noted and muchpublished
researcher in radiation
biology and river biology. He also
served as director and instructor of
National Science Foundation’s
biology summer institutes for high
school teachers at Saint Mary’s
College. Among many honors, he
was named an Outstanding
Educator of America in 1970.
At the celebration of his 50th
anniversary as a Christian Brother,
Brother George was called a
“brilliant and beloved” teacher
by a former student. Brother Louis
DeThomasis, FSC, Ph.D., current
SMU president, said “Brother
George was a man of great intellect,
and a man of charm and wit. He
was a man of God, and at the same
time, the consummate ‘people
person.’”
Dance helps Johnsons buy van for handicapped son
The second annual Taylor
Richmond Benefit last year
helped John Johnson of the
SMU admission office and
his wife Bobbi Jo purchase
a handicapped-accessible
van to transport Brady, their
six-year-old son. Brady has
cerebral palsy. Students and
staff helped plan the semiformal
dance in the Toner
Student Center. Johnson
said he was grateful for the
support of the community.
“I’m humbled,” he said. “I
can’t say enough about
Saint Mary’s.” The previous
year, the benefit was for
Taylor Richmond, the son of
SMU staff Nikki and Nick
Richmond. Taylor suffers
from ataxia-telangiecstacia.
SMC is affiliated with Catholic
University of America (1945)
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Brother Alphonsus Pluth begins Saint Mary’s
Press at DeLaSalle High School (1943)
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