MoWest reflects on legacy of founding President, Marvin Looney
Praji Ghosh
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — Missouri Western State University is mourning the loss and remembering its very first president, Marvin O. Looney.
Looney grew up in southwest Missouri and graduated from Missouri State University before starting his teaching career at Gainesville High School.
Looney earned his Ph.D. from the University of Arkansas in 1961 and after stops at the University of Central Missouri, Kellogg Community College and Mahoning Community College, Looney was named president of what was then Missouri Western Junior College in 1967.
Even after retiring from MoWest in 1983, Looney stayed active in education—serving at the University of Alaska Anchorage and later spent eight years as chancellor at Missouri State University–West Plains.
“Students thought he was a president interested in their success and wanted to provide the best high-quality education that he can to everyone and wanted to also keep it affordable so everyone can access it,” said MoWest President, Elizabeth Kennedy.
Kennedy said the work he did at MoWest helped set the university on the path to becoming what it is today for the St. Joseph community.
She also said Looney inspired people in the 60s and 70s, when the university looked very different from what it does today.
“It was a different place. You had different populations and a force within the community that valued education and he was working to move it to a new location to build a campus and to eventually more it to a four-year university,” Kennedy said.
MoWest alum Zack Workman said he didn’t know Looney personally as a student, but later came to realize the impact of his contributions to the community.
He said Looney’s charisma and genuine care for students earned him a special place in people’s hearts
“He was a gentleman who I think could probably sit down with you and talk and he never wore a hat of a president and while you were talking to him, you felt like he was a community member,” Workman said.
Workman said Looney was always out talking with people in the community, listening to what was going on so he could find ways to make things better for everyone.
“He was always there supporting coaches and speaking with parents and it felt like a team because he was a total package,” Workman said.
Now, community members hope Looney’s legacy will live on, inspiring future generations with the same dedication and vision that made MoWest what it is today.