The Kirkwood Community College Board of Trustees conferred a rare honor on March 25, saluting one of its late members. The board unanimously agreed to honor the late Mervin L. Cronbaugh as a Trustee Emeritus. Family, friends and former colleagues were on hand for the formal presentation to Cronbaugh’s family, capping the scheduled trustees meeting.
Kirkwood President Mick Starcevich saluted Cronbaugh and his “unwavering dedication” to Kirkwood and the community college mission in Iowa.
“This is a bittersweet time. We are honored to salute Merv for everything he did for this college and so many people. When I think of him, I think of commitment. Merv was committed to what we are all about here. He lived that every day. He was a trusted colleague, a dedicated family man and a dear friend. It is so fitting that the Cronbaugh family, friends and his fellow Trustees Emeritus honorees are here, too. Merv lived the spirit of the Kirkwood Family, and that is how we celebrate him with this honor,” Starcevich said.
Trustee Chair Lois Bartelme also praised Cronbaugh’s “fun, caring spirit and guidance” during her years on the college’s governing body. “Merv cared for us all, and we all felt that when he was in the room. He lived his belief in what this college could do for so many people. We recognize those contributions that live on with this award,” Bartelme added.
Merv Cronbaugh served on the Kirkwood board for 21 years and was the board’s senior member upon his death in June 2009. He served as vice chair of the board for several years and was a long-time Kirkwood representative to the Iowa Association of Community College Trustees Board of Directors. Cronbaugh served as president of the IACCT board in the 1990s. The group awarded Cronbaugh with the John P. Kibbie Award, its highest honor, in 2008. The Des Moines-based advocacy group will also dedicate a memorial garden space to honor Cronbaugh later this year.
Cronbaugh was a long-time high school counselor in the Cedar Rapids Community Schools district, retiring in 1998 after 34 years of service. He was also active in many professional and community roles during his 40-plus years as a Cedar Rapids resident.
In more than four decades Kirkwood has made just four Trustee Emeritus awards: to founding board chair B.A. “Bud” Jensen, James Sauter of Iowa County, and Robert Davidson of Cedar County, and to Cronbaugh. Davidson and Sauter were founding trustees of the college from the group’s first meeting in May 1966. Both were in attendance as Starcevich and current board members presented Cronbaugh’s widow Ginny and the family with a framed portrait of Merv. The picture joins the other emeritus trustees in a permanent display in the B.A. Jensen Board Room on the third floor of Kirkwood Hall.
“Those portraits are in my direct line of sight at every meeting,” Starcevich observed. “Let me tell you, those four leaders look back at me and I have to feel inspired to carry on the work they cared so much about. It is a great honor to feel their presence.”