As many people who have remembered Joan Iversen have commented, my mom and dad, Jack Iversen, were very much a team. As a result, my dad had little heart left for living after my mom’s death — he died seven months later on April 21, 2014. While he didn’t care for formal religion, he was impressed with the service that Reverend Craig of the Oneonta Unitarian Universalist Church had conducted for my mother. So on April 25, 2014, Reverend Craig gave the memorial service for my dad, and, not surprisingly, my mom was a constant presence throughout many of the stories, as well. An MP3 audio recording is here for those who would like to listen:  If you would prefer to listen offline, you should be able to download the file here: Jack Iversen Memorial Service-April 25 2014

The Scholarship in His Name

• What: An endowed scholarship created through the gifts of family, colleagues, friends and alumni in memory of Professor Jack Iversen. This scholarship is now endowed in perpetuity because it has surpassed the $25,000 goal.
• Awarded to: undergraduate students who have financial need and have declared a psychology major, with an interest in pursuing a career in school psychology or alcohol/drug abuse prevention/treatment field, and with a demonstrated a commitment to social justice.

Help Continue His Legacy

Help build the scholarship that honors and continues his legacy, growing through gifts from all the people whose lives he touched. With every gift, each donor is giving the future a part of what they received from Jack Iversen.

Checks can be made out to the “College at Oneonta Foundation” memo: “Jack Iversen Memorial Scholarship”-mail to: Office of College Advancement, 308 Netzer Admin Bldg, Oneonta, NY 13820.

To give to the scholarship online, go to the College at Oneonta Foundation Giving Page and choose “Other” under Designation for Funds and specify “Jack Iversen Memorial Scholarship” in the text box after “Other.”

About Jack Iversen

Jack R. Iversen was born 5/31/30 in Chicago to Rose and LeRoy Iversen. He died at the age of 83 on April 21, 2014 in the Albany, N.Y. area, where he relocated so he could be with family during his battle with cancer.

Iversen completed his early education in the Chicago public schools. Upon graduating, he initially pursued a program in architecture at the University of Illinois, Chicago campus 1948-9 and then transferred to the University of Illinois, Champagne-Urbana. His education was interrupted while he served in the U.S. Army from 1953-5; he returned to the University of Illinois and graduated with a BS in 1956.

He entered the University of Illinois school psychology doctoral program, but left before completing his doctorate in 1960 to take a job as school psychologist in Star Lake, N.Y. He became active with the newly formed professional organization of School Psychologists of Upstate N.Y. (SPUNY) schools where he served as editor of the organization’s newsletter and then was elected president in 1966.

In 1963 he came to the State University of New York at Oneonta as an Associate Professor to work as a psychologist at the campus school and to teach at the college.

In response to the community awareness of the national drug crisis of the 60s, he worked with many concerned people from both colleges, the community and Bassett Hospital. Out of this collaboration came the founding of “85” which became one of the first crisis counseling programs in the state and an important resource for the community.

Iversen also was active in the early stages in the community planning for mental health resources which led to the founding of Oneonta’s Mental Health Association. He also worked with Dr. Sioussat of Bassett Hospital to address the need for substance counseling and support; this ultimately led to the founding of today’s LEAF Council. His experiences with these early community efforts led to his increased study of the psychology of addiction and the introduction of the course “Psychological Approaches to Drug and Alcohol Abuse” which engaged him until his retirement.

After retiring, he spent winters in Key Largo, Florida with his late wife, Joan, and their dog, Max. Together, they enjoyed many trips to the local dog park which included socializing with many human and canine friends. He loved boating and dogs (and dogs on boats) and was known widely for his love of “camping juice” (Mattingly and Moore), cookies, cashews, and butter pecan ice cream.

He will be remembered (and missed) for his unfailing good humor and his dry, sharp wit, which stayed with him through the last days of his life.