| Ritchie County native Joseph C. Gluck, one of West Virginia's longest serving servants, died Wednesday, Feb. 18, two weeks after celebrating his 89th. birthday.
He was many things to many people, a living legend to all of West Virginia, especially at West Virginia University, where he served the administration and students for 70 years.
"West Virginia University has lost one of its most valued community members and
trusted friends," WVU President David Hardesty Jr. said. "His dedication to young people and their education, his sense of humor, and his sense of right and wrong have made a lasting mark on the University and generations of its alumni. In a very real sense, he made WVU a better place."
Joseph Clay Gluck was born Jan. 31, 1915, in Auburn, W. Va. to Howard Gluck and Dora Zinn Gluck. He graduated from Bethany College in 1936 and the Yale Divinity School in 1942. He did post-graduate study at Harvard and Oxford Universities.
He began his tenure at WVU in 1933 as a youth counselor at Jackson's Mill, the State 4-H Camp. During World War II he served as the youngest Navy chaplain from West Virginia.
Following the war he returned to WVU to serve as the Veteran's Coordinator. In 1949, he was appointed Dean of Students. In 1980, he retired as Vice President of Student Affairs and became a Special Counselor to Students, the position he held until his death.
Gluck served under 11 WVU Presidents and worked with 82 deans during his 70 years at WVU. He received numerous honors at WVU. He was one of the founders and early inductees to the Order of Vandalia, WVU's highest honor for extraordinary service to the institution. The theater at the Mountain Lair, the student center, bears his name. He was named Most Loyal Mountaineer in 1979. In 1997, he was awarded the Paul B. Martin Award by the WVU Alumni Association, and in 1998 he was a charter member of the WVU Student Affairs Hall of Fame. He was a founding member of the National Association of College and University Concert Directors. He was WVU's official Santa Claus for the 40 holiday seasons from 1963 to 2003.
In 1972 he studied at the Vatican as a special delegate to the Roman Catholic Ecumenical Conclave in Rome. Gluck held honorary degrees from Bethany College and Alderson-Broadus College. In 1991, he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. He served as the Epistolarian of honorary Turf of Bath, Oxford, and was its last surviving member.
Gluck was a minister of the American Baptist Convention, serving in serving in several West Virginia and Pennsylvania churches. His 28 years as the pastor of the historic Forks-of-Cheat Baptist Church brought recognition of the church's unique pioneer history. As Bear Master, he inducted hundreds of members into the World Bear Eaters Club, which met each summer at the church' s homecoming picnic.
He was a life long member of 4-H, a 4-H All Star, and in 2003 was inducted into the 4-H Hall of Fame. As a member of the Sigma Nu Fraternity, he was recognized as "The Builder" by the High Council and Board of Trustees of the Fraternity in 1999.
During the Morgantown bicentennial, Gluck received the Zaquil Morgan Award for outstanding community service. He was also a member of the XX Club, the Monongahela Historical Association, the Friday the 13th Club, and the VFW. Gluck was an active member of the First Baptist Church of Morgantown.
His love of humor, as well as his famous gardening and sweet peas, was one of the first things his many friends mention when describing Joe Gluck. In 2002, he even coined the word "Humorosity" as the presence of humor.
Former Governor Cecil Underwood met Gluck as a graduate student at WVU in the 1940's. "He was a very interesting person, very much a renaissance man, with interest and knowledge in so many fields," the Governor recalled. "Joe was also a very successful minister and church leader, and outstanding youth consultant. And, of course, all who knew him know he was a nature lover and one who collected great volumes of humor."
Gluck was preceded in death by his wife, Margaret Hannah Gluck in 2002; two sisters, Lanore Rudy of Fairmont, W.Va., and Edra Britton Deem of Parkersburg, W.Va.
He is survived by his three children, Susannah Glomb and husband Michael of Arlington, Va.; Alico "Jody" Crosland and husband James of Miami, Fla., and Christopher Gluck of Morgantown, W.Va.; and grandchildren, James "C.A." and Margaret Crosland, and Elizabeth and Jonathan Glomb.
A memorial service will be held at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, March 28, at the Creative Arts Center on the WVU Campus. An interment service will be held in the Arbovale, W.Va. Cemetery in July. Cremation services will be provided by Hastings Funeral Home.
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