Stuart Good, honorary alumnus, 1925–2024

Stuart Good, Cornell College’s dean of students from 1957–1969, died Aug. 20, 2024, in Anacortes, Washington. He was 99.

Good led the Office of Student Affairs (OSA) as students began demanding more autonomy. Under his leadership evening dress meals were abolished and coed visiting hours began to expand. Good proposed an advisory board with OSA staff, students, and faculty, which became the Student Affairs Governing Board. The board ultimately passed policy changes such as removing women’s hours and allowing students of legal age to drink alcohol in their rooms. 

Good served in the U.S. Army from 1943–1946, including in the Southwest Pacific Theater. He then earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English from Boston University, where he worked the first six of his 38 years in higher education. In addition to 12 years at Cornell, he was vice president and dean of students at Westminster College and concluded his career as dean of student affairs at Millsaps College, retiring in 1989.

In retirement Good and his wife, Dorothy, moved to Seattle, Washington, across the street from their daughter and family, and three years later, moved to adjacent lake homes. He is survived by his wife of 74 years, whom he cared for the past two years in home hospice. He is also survived by three children, seven grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.