April 5 memorial service planned for SU Professor Emerita Marjorie Dibble

April 5 memorial service planned for SU Professor Emerita Marjorie DibbleApril 01, 2003Kelly Homan Rodoskikahoman@syr.edu

A memorial service for Marjorie Veit Dibble of East Syracuse, professor emerita and former associate dean in Syracuse University’s College for Human Development (now the College of Human Services and Health Professions), will be held April 5 at 10:30 a.m. the University’s Hendricks Chapel. A reception will immediately follow in the chapel’s Noble Room.

Dibble died Jan. 31. She was 75.

A native of Brooklyn, she received a bachelor’s degree in dietetics from Hunter College and a master’s degree in food and nutrition from the University of Tennessee. She joined the faculty of the College for Human Development in 1951. She served as chair of the Department of Human Nutrition for 23 years. She served as acting dean from 1973-74 and as associate dean from 1986 until her retirement in 1995, with hiatus during the 1989-90 academic year to serve as the college’s interim dean. During her 44 years in the college, she was the catalyst for many curricular, program and department initiatives, including the development of community placements in nutrition, the establishment of a clinical program in dietetics and an increased emphasis on research and graduate study in the college.

Dibble spent much of her career studying ways to help people improve their eating habits. She co-authored the 15th, 16th and 17th editions of the textbook, “Nutrition in Health and Disease” (Lippincott, 1968, 1976 and 1982), one of the best-known nutrition textbooks in the field, and “Nutrition in Nursing” (Lippincott, 1972). She was the author of numerous articles and was listed in American Men and Women in Science and Who’s Who of American Women.

Lois Schroeder, professor emerita and former interim dean of the College for Human Development, first met Dibble through the classes she was taking to earn her master’s degree in the 1970s. She says that Dibble was a mentor who had a profound influence on all of her students.

“She was a quiet authority, one who always delivered her message with a bit of humor,” says Schroeder. “Her graduate students recall with great fondness how her course requirements would place them in the front lines of politically charged community nutrition issues.”

In a 1995 Syracuse Record article, a former student spoke of the encouragement she received from Dibble. “She never doubted my ability to succeed, even when I did.”

Dibble was also well known nationally for her expertise in infant and child nutrition and was a strong advocate for programs which bettered the lives of disadvantaged children. Her work earned her great respect within the dietetic community nationwide, Schroeder says.

She was awarded the American Dietetic Association’s Medallion Award, one of the highest honors in the field, in 1984. She received a Trailblazer in the Professions Award from the Central New York chapter of the National Organization for Women in 1980, was named a Post-Standard Woman of Achievement in Nutrition in 1983 and received a Chancellor’s Citation for Distinguished Service in 1995.

Dibble helped train the first local group of Head Start teachers. She served on the board of directors of Meals on Wheels and on the advisory board of the American Dietetic Association Internship Program. She served on several major University and college committees, including the University Senate.

Surviving are a daughter, Ann Cunningham of Oxbow; a son, Jack, of Pottstown, Pa.; a sister, Dorothy Corsello of Millington, N.J.; and one granddaughter.

Funeral services were held Feb. 4 in Syracuse. Memorial contributions may be made to the Marjorie V. Dibble Scholarship Award in care of the Syracuse University Development Office, 820 Comstock Ave., Syracuse, N.Y. 13244.