Editor: Keith Davis Writers: Alex Dippold, Dave Maley Publisher: Office of Public Information Volume 22, No.16   April 24, 2000

Professor of Psychology Succumbs to Lung Cancer Martin Rand, a member of the Department of Psychology at the College for 35 years, died March 28 in Geneva. He had been diagnosed with lung cancer last winter and had planned to retire from teaching at the end of the academic year. He was 65. A native of Madison, Ohio, Rand earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Kent State University, and in 1969 he earned a doctorate in child development and family relations at Cornell. Before coming to Ithaca College in 1965, he was a staff psychologist at Summit County Receiving Hospital in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, and later a senior clinical psychologist at Willard State Hospital in Willard, New York. When Rand first came to Ithaca College, he served as an assistant professor of psychology as well as a clinical psychologist and director of mental health services at the health center. Prior to his arrival, there were no mental health professionals offering services to the student body. He worked at the health center until 1981. His areas of interest included family therapy, abnormal psychology, and birth order and personality. Rand was a popular professor, and his influence on his students went beyond the classroom. He and Joella, his wife of 45 years, started an annual retreat at their Willard home to give students a chance to relieve stress and heal from traumatic experiences. One of the Ithaca students who enjoyed the comfort of the Rand home was the late NBC news anchor and correspondent Jessica Savitch ’68, who wrote in her autobiography, "The Rands were surrogate parents for an extended family of students, an eclectic mix that might include, at any given point, undergraduates, doctoral candidates, and those stranded during the holidays. The Rands’ warm-hearted hospitality drew people in." In addition to his wife, Rand is survived by a son, a daughter, a sister, and seven grandchildren.

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