Kent State’s Stark Campus, lovingly referred to as “the house that Jack built”, has lost the man who played an integral part of the Jackson Township campus. 

Jack Morehart of Canton, Ohio passed away on Jan. 16 at the age of 90. Morehart was responsible for creating Stark County’s only public university and served a 20-year tenure as the first dean of Stark Campus.

Joining Kent State in 1960, he served as the director of the Canton Academic Center prior to serving as dean and director at the newly developed Kent State Stark campus. During his tenure, Morehart started the nursing and post secondary programs at the Stark campus and served on the Board of Directors for the Canton Civic Ballet and Canton Symphony Orchestra.

“He built the campus from the ground up, literally. He was really such a gem,” said Cynthia Williams, public relations coordinator of Kent State Stark’s campus. “We will always respect him for the man he was and the contributions he made to education.”

A graduate of The Ohio State University with a bachelor’s and master’s degree, he continued his postgraduate work at Ohio State and Kent State in higher education administration.

A veteran of World War II, Morehart served in the Army Air Corps and was a member of Post 44 of the American Legion in Canton.  His family requests donations be made out to Wounded Warriors in lieu of flowers. 

Erin Zaranec is an assigning editor for The Kent Stater. Contact her at [email protected].