Vance Fitzgerald Mitchell
Published February 21, 2008
Vance Fitzgerald Mitchell, born March 30, 1923, passed away Feb. 21, 2008, in Mount Vernon.
He had been a resident of Oak Harbor since 1982. He is survived by his loving wife Frances of 62 years, his sons Scott and Bill, his daughter-in-law Sita, and his grandchildren Hardee and Sloane.
Vance was a genuine and caring human being. A loving husband, father, educator, mentor, friend to everyone. Vance left Wooster College in 1940 to receive a commission in the U.S. Army Air Corps to defend our country in World War II. Following the war, he attended George Washington University and completed his Bachelor’s Degree, later to be followed with a Master’s Degree in Economics.
Concluding his 20-year career with the U.S. Air Force, which included tours of duty in Europe, Japan, California and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., Col. Mitchell returned again to school and earned his Doctorate degree from the University of California, Berkeley.
Dr. Mitchell proudly dedicated his next 20 years as a professor with the Faculty of Commerce at the University of British Columbia, and another 20-plus years as Professor of Aviation Sciences with Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona, Fla., until his retirement in 2007.
Without purposefully setting out to do so, Vance earned the distinguished honor of having received the title of Professor Emeritus from two major universities.
In the course of three rewarding, meaningful, and enduring careers, Vance served his country in a time of war, consulted to corporations and world governments, was chairman of the Western Academy of Management, provided sponsorship, guidance, and friendship to many doctoral students, and authored and co-authored several text books and papers that continue as staple informational guidance within his field of Organizational Behavior Psychology.
Vance F. Mitchell: Mr., Doctor, Professor, Colonel, Father, Husband, Grandfather, Teacher, Friend.
Your loving wife, children, grandchildren, friends, associates, colleagues, and all of those whose lives you touched, we will remember you.