Former University System of Georgia chancellor H. Dean Propst once considered a career in the church. In his self-written obituary, Propst recalled the sublime moment he realized the pulpit might not be his destiny.
“As a youngster, he decided to be a preacher after attending a revival meeting at his Baptist church,” Propst wrote in third-person. “He adopted a congregation of chickens to whom he preached, ‘saving’ some of them. The ‘saved’ ones, of course, had to be baptized. Doing so, he killed them, an act not appreciated by his parents.
“Consequently, his career took an academic path instead.”
Friends say that story is a telling example of Propst’s sense of humor.
“He was a tremendous amount of fun,” said Ray Cleere, a friend and former vice chancellor of academic affairs for the University System. “And though he could be considered a private person, he was publicly an academic giant in the state.”
Harold Dean Propst died Monday at his home in Atlanta following a long illness. He was 78. A funeral is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Saturday at Corinth Baptist Church in Vale, N.C. A memorial service is planned locally for 1 p.m. on Dec. 1 at Oakhurst Baptist Church, Decatur. A.S. Turner & Sons is in charge of arrangements.
Before leading the state University System in 1985, Propst began his career 1958 as an English teacher in Vandalia, Ohio. Armed with a doctorate in American literature from then-Peabody College in Nashville, Tenn., Propst, a U.S. Navy veteran, taught for seven years at then-Radford College in Radford, Va. In 1969, he moved to Georgia, where he was the dean of faculty at then-Armstrong State College in Savannah. Before leaving in 1979, he also served as vice president of the college.
In 1979, he became the vice chancellor for academic development for the University System. Six years later, after serving as vice chancellor and executive vice chancellor, he was chosen as the chancellor in. He remained in that position for nearly 10 years until he retired in 1994. During his tenure, he focused heavily on strengthening the schools in the system, friends and colleagues said.
“He was a superb facilitator of the relationship between Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia,” said Charles B. Knapp, former UGA president. “That relationship was really the birth of the Georgia Research Alliance. And while another person might have viewed that as a kind of competitive effort, Dean saw it as a way Tech and Georgia could work together to build our research capabilities. And he did everything he could to help us get it to work.”
When Propst, who never married, wasn’t working on behalf of the state’s higher education system, he was often dining or relaxing with his circle of friends, Cleere said.
“He was the ultimate bachelor,” Cleere said. “He was very active and always talking about what he was reading. Not only was his professional life very important to him, his personal life was very important to him as well.”
He is survived by nieces, Rita Propst Floyd of Winston-Salem, N.C., and Robin Propst Eggers of Max Meadows, Va.; and nephews, Kenneth W. Propst and Richard Mull, both of Hickory, N.C.
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