Courtesy of The Association of Retired Faculty and Professional Staff from SUNY Fredonia
MANDA DEDIE
Assistant News Editor
John P. Malcolm, the founding father of the Department of Communication of Fredonia, died on Wednesday, May 27, 2015.
Malcolm, Professor Emeritus of the communication department, joined the Fredonia staff in 1963 as the director for the Instructional Resources Center (IRC), or what is now Information Technology Services (ITS). Malcolm is referred to as the pioneer of the communication major and department.
“Before I came in 1980, we were part of what we called ‘special studies,’ so students put together their own programs of study if there was no such major,” said Professor Ted Schwalbe, distinguished service professor of the communication department. “It was around that time when students started putting together the same kind of courses that were offered here because they were interested in communication. It was only a couple of years after that where John basically did all of the work to create a department first, and then within a couple of years to have an official major in communication.”
An aspect of Malcolm’s life that most everyone can agree upon is his friendly and inviting personality, although first impressions can be deceiving.
“He was rather obnoxious at first, because he was from Long Island,” said Linda Malcom, Malcolm’s wife of 55 years. “People from Long Island, at that time, always thought they were a little bit better than some country girl from western New York. He soon got over that and he was just pleasant to be around and enjoyable to be with.”
Malcolm led a busy life, from being chairperson of the communication department, to heading up ITS in Thompson Hall and, of course, teaching his students. But he also lead an active life outside of academia as well, being a father to his two daughters, MacKenzie and Courtnay, and keeping up with various hobbies.
“For pleasure, he liked to hike. I didn’t mind hiking, except he liked to walk way too fast, so we had to argue quite a bit about how fast we had to hike. We liked to camp, so we camped. Just pretty ordinary kinds of things,” said Linda. “He was a meticulous when taking care of the lawn, and we are both very fond of cats, so he loved being with our cats. He was a very good cook. He used to work at the snack bar at the college when he was a student, so he liked to do the fast cooking that you’d do working at a snack bar as a college student, rather than the elaborate dinners.”
On top of his hobbies, Malcolm was also a volunteer, working with the Boy Scouts of America amongst other organizations. He also was in charge of the refurbishing of the Fredonia Opera House.
“That was in a state of complete disrepair, and there was talk of tearing it down. This was probably about 2025 years ago, and John helped lead a community group meant to volunteer and redo the entire building,” said Schwalbe. “It’s a real old style movie theatre, and it’s almost like a treasure now. He led the movement to save that theatre.”
Malcolm, who had been teaching at Fredonia since the early 60’s, could also be considered a local historian of the school and the town.
“It was because of his long connection to the school that he was a tremendous sort of historian of Fredonia. In fact, had put together, both in print and photography through slides, a sort of history of Fredonia,” said Schwalbe. “He could tell stories from the ‘60s and the ‘70s of what the campus and the students were like then, and of course it’s so very different from what it’s like today.”
Malcolm published this information in the Dunkirk Observer, through various articles titled “50 Years at Fredonia.” While it is a book, it was never published in book form, but can be found in the archives of the alumni office.
But perhaps the some of the greatest joys in Malcolm’s life were Fredonia and his students.
“[The relationship between John and his students] was really close,” said Schwalbe. “I’m not a Facebooker, so I haven’t been following anything, but I’ve heard from our foundation and several other people how many students have responded on Facebook upon hearing of John’s death and sharing personal stories about working with John. Students loved him. He connected with them really well.”
A student of Malcolm’s, John Dedie, Fredonia class of ‘83, reminisces on his time as a student of Malcolm’s, and the years of guidance and friendship that followed.
“Over 30 years ago, I transferred to Fredonia, and one of my first professors was Dr. John Malcolm,” said Dedie via email. “The best memories I have of him were the conversations I had with him outside of the classroom.
Since graduation from Fredonia, I have contacted Dr. Malcolm several times at pivotal moments in my professional career to share my success and tap into his knowledge for advice. As a college professor today, I think about my own style I have with students and colleagues and realize how similar it is to Dr. Malcolm. Listening, empathy, humor, teamwork. He was always rooting for you.
“I believe every person can be defined by a single word or phrase and for Dr. Malcolm, that word was ‘Fredonia,’” said Dedie.