Retired University of Oregon professor emeritus Glenn Starlin died Dec. 1 in Eugene. He was 86.

Most people fortunate enough to have worked with Glenn Starlin remember him for his remarkable leadership skills and his genteel character. Professor Ron Sherriffs is one of them.

"He is probably the reason a generation of faculty stayed at the University," said Sherriffs, who met and befriended Starlin in 1965. "He encouraged us to go as far or farther than we thought we could go. He led rather than pushed."

After joining the faculty in 1947, Starlin was instrumental in developing the radio-television production curriculum in the Telecommunications and Film program, introducing a graduate program in telecommunication and establishing the campus-community radio station, KWAX.

Glenn Starlin, pictured with his wife, Miriam, remained a vital part of the University even after his retirement in 1977.

As director of the Oregon State System of Higher Education Inter-Institutional Television Teaching Project in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Starlin worked in the development of educational television in Oregon, helping to establish the state's first educational television broadcast facility, KOAC-TV in Corvallis, with production studios also at UO. He served for many years on the Board of Directors of the Western Radio and Television Association, and served on the Board of Association for Professional Broadcasting Education and as its president from 1958-60.

Starlin, a graduate of the universities of Iowa and Idaho, served as vice provost for academic affairs and as acting dean of Liberal Arts (now Arts and Sciences). Starlin was a member of the Faculty Senate and the Library Advancement Council and various University committees. Starlin retired in 1977.

In 1983, family, friends and former students established the Glenn Starlin Endowed Graduate Fellowship in Telecommunications, which was awarded each year to the most outstanding graduate student in the Telecommunications and Film program. Now, the Starlin Award rotates annually between the Department of Theatre Arts and the SOJC and is made to the student "with a demonstrated commitment to scholarship and career potential."

In 1985, Starlin chaired the Villard Hall Centennial, and in 1990, the Museum of Natural History Courtyard was dedicated in his name as a tribute to his long-standing support.

Born in Spokane, Starlin went on to marry Miriam McFall in 1939. He began his teaching career at the University of Iowa in 1939-40 and worked as an instructor in speech and drama at the University of Akron in Ohio from 1940-43.

"Glenn Starlin was a leader on this campus and part of the generation that established Oregon as a major research university," SOJC Dean Tim Gleason said. "Over the years, he worked closely with the broadcast faculty in the School to enhance the teaching of broadcasting at Oregon."

Starlin was a member of numerous professional organizations, including the National Association of Educational Broadcasters. Locally, he was a member of the Round Table of Eugene, and he was active in the Boy Scouts.

Starlin is survived by his wife; two sons, Scott of Walnut Creek, Calif., and Clay of Eugene; a sister, Jean Owens of Eugene; and two grandchildren.