Obituary: Daniel R. Chamberlain (’53 Upland College)

Messiah University mourns the passing of former academic dean, Daniel R. Chamberlain. He is survived by his

beloved wife of 72 years, Joyce Books Chamberlain (’49 Upland Academy). Five of their seven children either graduated from or attended Messiah. Their grandson, Alexander Books Chamberlain, is a current Messiah student.

Chamberlain earned a bachelor’s degree from Upland College and then completed a Doctorate of Education at the University of Southern California. He worked as a high school principal and later as president of his alma mater, Upland College. From 1965 to 1967, he served as the assistant university dean for the SUNY system. Following that, he worked eight years as the academic dean of what was then Messiah College. His most notable and longest-held role was as president of Houghton College in western New York, where he served from 1976 to 2006. At his retirement at age 74, he was one of the longest serving college presidents in the country.

E. Morris Sider, an Upland classmate, said, “He was almost overwhelmingly intelligent, but also a dedicated Christian. When Dan decided to leave his excellent job at the New York State University system to go to Messiah College, a small Christian school, his colleagues were puzzled. When they queried Dr. Ernest (Ernie) Boyer ’48 (then head of the SUNY system) why Dan would make what seemed to the colleagues as a disadvantageous move, Ernie replied, ‘Dan marches to a different drummer.’”

In 1972, Chamberlain invited Paul Nisly to join Messiah as a faculty member and as the chair of the Language, Literature and Fine Arts Division. “During that first year, this neophyte asked myriad questions, and Dean Chamberlain was unfailingly kind, helpful and insightful in his guidance,” said Nisly. “Decades later, I interviewed him for his perspectives on the college during his tenure at Messiah. His memories were incisive, focused and razor sharp. He always seemed to me the ‘smartest person in the room,’ but with his many gifts and strong work ethic, he served his Messiah and Lord.”

Our deepest sympathies are extended to Joyce and the entire Chamberlain family.