Roland Dille funeral arrangements and obituary
The funeral for Dr. Roland Dille will be held on Saturday, May 31 at 2 p.m. at the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Moorhead, with visitation one hour before the service.
Visitation will also be on Friday from 5 to 7 p.m. with a time of sharing at 7 p.m. in The Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd.
Interment will be in the Prairie Home Cemetery, Moorhead, MN.
Following the interment, a reception will be held in the Comstock Memorial Union Ballroom at M.S.U.M. from 4 to 6 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions in Dr. Dille’s name to the Dille Fund for Excellence or to the Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County.
Video tribute and online guestbook at www.wrightfuneral.com
Dr. Roland Dille
Dr. Roland Dille, Minnesota State University Moorhead’s longest serving president (1968-1994), died on May 26, 2014. Dr. Dille was born on September 16, 1924, on a farm near Dassel, Minnesota, attending its public schools. In World War II, he served in the U.S. Army in Europe. He earned a bachelor’s in English Literature, summa cum laude, from the University of Minnesota as well as his doctorate in 20th Century British literature. In 1948, he married Beth Hopeman of Moorhead and began his career in education teaching at Dassel High School.
From 1956 to 1961, Dr. Dille taught English at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. From 1961 to 1963, he taught at California Lutheran College, being let go after opposing college administration actions he believed to be unjust. In 1963, Moorhead State College’s President John Neumaier hired Dille as an English professor. In 1966, Dr. Dille became Dean of Academic Affairs and in 1968 became its president.
His early years as president at MSUM (then Moorhead State College) were tumultuous. Dr. Dille and others resolved to work to address national racial issues locally, recruiting Black students and faculty, a decision opposed by a vociferous few. He received threats on the lives of his children and his car was vandalized. After a student fired a gun on campus, Dr. Dille calmed racial hostilities by publically speaking against violence. Anti-War protests also reached the Moorhead campus and after the Kent State shootings, Dr. Dille told State police to stay off campus, thereby averting violence. Dille came to oppose the war, testifying in support of conscientious objectors, including the most strident campus radicals, future Minneapolis City Council Member Brian Coyle among them.
Roland Dille co-founded Tri-College University to expand course options for area students and created the New Center for students with unrealized potential. During his tenure, MSUM’s enrollment more than doubled, adding five new buildings, expanding the library, and acquiring land for future expansion.
President Carter appointed Dr. Dille to the National Council for the Humanities. Dille was elected President of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and served as Acting Chancellor of the Minnesota State University System. In 1989, he was named one of the nation’s 100 most effective college presidents.
Dr. Dille was active in Moorhead Rotary Club, Moorhead Area Chamber of Commerce, and several historical societies.
After retirement, he was named President Emeritus of Moorhead State University and to the Honorary Council of the Minnesota Historical Society. The Minnesota Humanities Commission established the Roland Dille Award for Distinguished Service and MSUM named the Roland Dille Center for the Arts after him. The Roland and Beth Dille Distinguished Faculty Lecturer Award and the Dille Fund for Excellence were named in his honor. In retirement he remained in demand as a public speaker and continuing to write on a variety of topics, including local history. A temporary exhibit, “Roland Dille and the Dassel Story,” has just opened at the Dassel History Center and Ergot Museum.
Roland is preceded in death by his parents Oliver and Eleanor Dille and his brother Donald. He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Beth (Hopeman), by his children Deborah (Vincent Casalaina) of Berkeley California, Martha of Prior Lake, Sarah (Daniel Stauffer) of Moorhead, and Benjamin (Anna) of Astana, Kazakhstan; by grandchildren Amy, Annie (Neil Holmgren), and Stewart Jollymore, Aidan Lynch, Angela Plitkow (Matt), Deborah Schmidt, Nicolas Dille-Umber, Alexander Dibrov, and Daniel and Elizabeth Dille; and by one great grandchild, Gabriel.