MoWest community mourns Dr. Looney, first president

Sept. 30, 2025-Dr. Marvin O. Looney, who served as the first president of Missouri Western State University, died Sept. 29 in Mountain Home, Arkansas. He was 97 years old.

"There are few figures, if any, more vital than Dr. Looney to the development of Missouri Western State University," said Dr. Elizabeth Kennedy, the University's fifth president. "When he arrived in St. Joseph, a four-year regional university was little more than a dream. He gave that dream shape and substance, inspiring faculty, staff, students and the community to build MoWest into the vibrant university it remains today."

A naval veteran of World War II, the southwest Missouri native graduated from Missouri State University and began teaching and coaching at Gainesville High School, his alma mater. Dr. Looney earned his Ph.D. from the University of Arkansas in 1961 and after stops at the University of Central Missouri, Kellogg Community College in Battle Creek, Michigan, and Mahoning Community College, Dr. Looney was named president of what was then Missouri Western Junior College in 1967, two years before the college became a four-year institution and moved to its current campus.

Dr. Looney's time in St. Joseph were eventful years, including the establishment and accreditation of a four-year institution, the construction of buildings that continue to serve as the heart of the MoWest campus today (including the M.O. Looney Fieldhouse that bears his name), and the growth and success of intercollegiate athletics, including the introduction of women's sports in 1975. He and his family-wife Dorsey and sons Doug, Bill and Chris-lived in the President's House on campus until it was destroyed by fire on New Year's Eve, 1981.

"We can say with certainty that he has been a good leader," wrote Dr. Frances Flanagan in her history of the college. "If we recall the struggling-no, staggering-junior college in which Dr. Looney began his presidency and contrast that institution with the energetic and assured college in which he will end his presidential odyssey, we will see what he has accomplished."

After retiring from MoWest in 1983, he returned to the workforce to lead the University of Alaska Anchorage, then served eight years as chancellor of Missouri State University-West Plains. He lived in Pontiac, Missouri.

Missouri Western State University is a student-centered learning community preparing individuals for lives of excellence through applied learning. MoWest is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit missouriwestern.edu.