Merrill Ernest SAMUELSON

SAMUELSON, DOUGHTY

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 11/2/2012 at 16:52:33

September 4, 1918 --- October 4, 2012

Merrill Ernest Samuelson

Merrill left us unexpectedly on October 4, 2012 at the age of 94. He was born the oldest of seven children in Hebron, Nebraska on September 4, 1918. He was so shy that he waited one extra year to begin school, so that his younger sister could go with him. However, when he did begin school his exceptional intelligence and academic ability caused him to skip several grades. He attended Iowa State College and was interested in a journalism career. Merrill had worked with his father who operated the Goldfield (Iowa) Gazette newspaper.

He joined the U.S. army shortly before America entered World War II. Because of exceptional mathematical ability he was accelerated into officer candidate school and emerged as a second lieutenant. He met and married Arthemise Doughty of Oklahoma City in 1944, one day before being deployed to the Pacific island of Guam for 13 months. On Guam Merrill was operations officer of a unit that produced maps for bomber pilots, including the one used to drop the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. His 949th Topographical Engineer company received a unit citation for their work and Merrill received the bronze star medal. He was discharged in 1945 as a captain, and returned to the USA. He continued his journalism studies while working part time at newspaper jobs and becoming a father. In 1960 he was awarded a Ph.D. in mass communication research at Stanford University, and in 1962 moved to Seattle to teach at the University of Washington. He served as director of the UW School of Communications from 1963 to 1968, and taught for many years producing numerous successful students.

Merrill loved chess, checkers, and card games, and at one time was the chess champion of the state of Iowa. He enjoyed his grandsons immensely and played endless chess, checkers, and card games with them as well as teaching them to fish. He was especially delighted to meet his first great grandchild Tyler Merrill Samuelson.

Merrill believed that people should pay more attention to what he called the "thou shalts," and less to the "thou shalt nots." And he lived this philosophy. Always a champion of the underdog, he helped the less fortunate with food, money, and encouragement whenever possible. Growing up on farms, he was a lifelong vegetable gardener, and maintained a double size "pea patch" community garden plot for many years, donating his harvest to local food banks.

Merrill was preceded in death by his son Michael and his beloved wife Arthemise. He is survived by son and daughter-in-law Jerry and Carolyn Samuelson of Redmond, grandson Andrew Samuelson of Queensland, Australia, and grandson, granddaughter-in-law, and great grandson Benjamin, Jill, and Tyler Merrill Samuelson of Edmonds.

Merrill was a great man and a true member of what has come to be called "the greatest generation." He will be loved and missed.

Services will be held at 2:00 PM on Monday October 22 at Wedgwood Presbyterian Church, 8008 35th Ave NE, Seattle. Please send remembrances to your local food bank.

The Seattle Times - Seattle, Washington
October 18, 2012

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Remembering Merrill Samuelson: Quiet pioneer of the Mass Communication program
October 29, 2012 · by Department of Communication · in Department News, News

By Kirsten Johnson -

Those who knew Merrill Samuelson, Director of the former School of Communications from 1963-1968 , recall him as someone unlikely to draw attention, or start conflict. They remember their colleague as a thoughtful, hardworking individual with a quiet influence in shaping the department during his time as director.

On Oct. 4, Samuelson passed away at age 94.

Merrill Samuelson“I certainly missed him as a friend and a colleague,” former colleague Keith Stamm said. “He was just a marvelously warm and cooperative person. So helpful and easy to work with.”

Samuelson came from a newspaper family. Born in Nebraska, he attended college in Iowa with intent to pursue a career in journalism. As a young adult, he worked with his father who operated a newspaper in Goldfield, Iowa.

Just before the U.S. entered World War II, he took a break from journalism to serve in the Army where he advanced quickly in the ranks and met his future wife. In 1945, when he was discharged as a captain, he continued his pursuit of a journalism career and worked part-time at various newspapers.

Eventually, he decided to explore a different facet of the communication field and he enrolled at Stanford University to study Mass Communication. While he was working toward his Ph.D. at Stanford, Bill Ames, a professor in the UW School of Communication, was searching for a new department head and was pointed to Samuelson as a potential candidate.

Dick Carter, a former colleague, said Ames was looking for a trailblazer to revamp certain aspects of UW’s lagging program. Samuelson, with his newspaper background and knowledge of Mass Communication from Stanford University, seemed like just the right person.

“Merrill would understand pioneering, about the discomforts and challenges to be faced in a journalistic world characterized as ‘the green eye shades versus the Chi squares,’” he said. “He had, he could, bridge that gap.”

In 1963, Samuelson became director and set a goal for UW’s Communication program to eventually hold a nationally recognized graduate program producing strong Ph.D. candidates, while at the same time maintaining a well-regarded undergraduate program. Before he took over, the program was largely journalism focused, and the editorial journalism course sequence dominated the school. Stamm recalls little emphasis on graduate programs or higher education during that time.

“I would say Merrill was the spearhead of that change,” Stamm said.

Samuelson faced opposition from old journalism professionals teaching in the school who were unhappy with proposed changes. Yet his quiet impact and strong demeanor helped to mold things without causing permanent rifts.

Stamm said much of Samuelson’s vision for the school was directly influenced by Stanford’s Mass Communication program. To this day, the program mimics many aspects of Stanford’s. In addition to creating graduate programs, Samuelson helped develop entry-level Mass Communication courses, which helped to broaden the undergraduate program.

“Students were expected to know something about Mass Communication and not just how to write a news story,” Stamm said. “So it really broadened the undergraduate program as well.”

Former colleague Don Pember remembers him as a solitary individual who rarely – if ever – complained, had a joy for tending his home vegetable garden, and who did his job well.

“He was always easy to work with,” Pember said. “He never complained, he did a good job, he was just the sort of guy who kept the show running.”

Stamm recalls many times the two would walk together to Ivar’s for lunch and chat.

“I can still see the way his smile would beam when he was coming down the hall to see you,” Stamm said. “He was happy to see you, whether there was any reason to be or not. You couldn’t have asked for a better colleague.”

Samuelson’s influence likely extends farther than many even realize.

“He influenced the department in a very quiet and humble way,” Stamm said. “He didn’t promote himself. He was really the kind of person who did more for other people and inspired the rest of us to be that way. With some of the conflict and so forth, the battles during that time, he was a voice that was very badly needed at times to calm people down.”

Thank you for all that you did, Merrill!

http://www.com.washington.edu/2012/10/remembering-merrill-samuelson-quiet-pioneer-of-the-mass-communication-program/

[son of Ernest and Bessie Samuelson, who formerly lived in Goldfield, Wright County, Iowa]