BGSU professor loved boating

5/4/2005

BOWLING GREEN - Marie R. Hodge, 88, a former professor and assistant dean of the college of business administration at Bowling Green State University, died Monday in Sunset Village, Sylvania Township.

She had Alzheimer's disease for several years, her son Charles Hodge said.

Mrs. Hodge liked both advising students and teaching them, her daughter, Mary Spilis, said. "She just liked working with students, either way."

Mrs. Hodge began teaching in the management department at BGSU in the early 1960s. She brought in speakers from the business world and helped develop entrepreneurial programs to aid students in learning how to run a business.

After about 10 years, she became assistant dean. "She helped the kids steer their way through the puzzle of getting [their] degrees," her son said.

When she began teaching, there were few women in the academic or business worlds. "She liked being an individual, a pioneer," her daughter said.

When she turned 65, Mrs. Hodge returned to teaching for five years. She retired in 1986.

She then volunteered as a trainer for SCORE, a group of retired businessmen who do free consulting to help new businesses get started.

Mrs. Hodge was born June 2, 1916, in Chicago. Her father urged her to have a career so she would never be dependent on a husband, her son said.

She graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in business in 1938. She met Edwin R. Hodge, Jr., there, and they married in 1940.

They came to Toledo in 1958, when he became dean of the University of Toledo's College of Business. He died in 1965.

Mrs. Hodge loved boating and was a member of the North Cape Yacht Club. She and her husband co-founded the Outboard Cruising Fleet of America, and she wrote a column for a boating magazine.

She also traveled all over the world, often with the Northwestern Alumni Association. She cruised to Antarctica, spent a month in China, and safaried in Africa, among other trips.

Surviving are her daughters, Mary L. Spilis and Helen Brodie; sons, Charles E. and Arthur W. Hodge; sister, Betty Williams; nine grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.

Visitation will be from 3 to 8 p.m. tomorrow in the Reeb Funeral Home, Sylvania, where services will be at 11 a.m. Friday. The family suggests tributes to the Marie R. Hodge Memorial Scholarship Fund in care of the BGSU Foundation or the Edwin R. Hodge Memorial Scholarship Fund in care of the UT Foundation.