Lt. Col. Hugh J. Sloan III

[ironputts]

September 3, 2020

Lt. Col. Hugh J. Sloan III
Steve Launius Composite Squadron
Mississippi Wing

Hugh Johnston Sloan III, PhD, 78, passed away Sunday, April 19, 2020, at his home in Oxford, MS, surrounded by his family, following an extended illness unrelated to the current crisis. Arrangements are incomplete at this time. Coleman Funeral Home of Oxford is in charge of local arrangements. Wells Funeral Home in Waynesville, NC is in charge of burial services in the family plots at Green Hill Cemetery.

Dr. Sloan was born in Wilmington, NC to the late Mr. Hugh Johnston Sloan Jr. and Mrs. Dorothy Margaret Watson Sloan. He lived in many towns in North Carolina, always being the "new kid" and boldly establishing his place in elementary schools. In middle school, the family moved to Portsmouth, Ohio. His first jobs were sweeping the sidewalk at Stapleton Office Supply and delivering newspapers from a bicycle. Young Hugh enjoyed painting architecture in oils, painting buildings in Portsmouth, then selling finished canvases to the building owners. Early piano lessons developed a lifelong appreciation of music of many genres.

Accidentally shot at 17- in the hip, through the floor and chair, by a downstairs neighbor cleaning a deer rifle- Hugh was told by his physicians that he would never walk again. He did. He walked, climbed, ran, marched, and danced!

Hugh graduated from Portsmouth High School with honors including founding the Science Club, serving on the Library Staff and membership in the PHS Honors Society. He entered Ohio University in Athens on a full academic scholarship, and "discovered women and alcohol at the same time". He recovered his GPA during his second semester, under the guidance of the Dean of Students, and he qualified to keep his scholarship, but decided he was too immature for college, and he joined the U.S. Air Force following his freshman year. That decision shaped the rest of his life.

The Air Force, recognizing his talent for languages, sent Hugh to Indiana University and Syracuse University to become a Russian linguist. He served for 27 years as an intelligence analyst in such posts as Peshawar, Pakistan and Misawa, Japan, listening to Soviet MiG instructors training pilots for service in Vietnam and intercepting historic Space Race transmissions like those by Gherman Titov, the second person to orbit Earth. With that experience, he was assigned to the National Security Agency in Washington, DC with top secret Russian language intelligence responsibilities.

While on active duty, Hugh studied with The University of Maryland Overseas and was awarded a B.S. in Political Science, receiving his diploma in a ceremony in a conference hotel in Tokyo. Following his career as active duty military, his first M.S. degree was in Political Science from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, after which he joined the corporate world in telecommunications.

Hugh worked for many years for AT&T, Ohio Bell Commercial Sales, in Springfield, Dayton, and later in sales management in Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio. While working for Bell, he earned the Master of Business Administration at Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, Ohio. During those years, he was an avid golfer, and watching golf tournaments remained a passion throughout his life. Entertained especially by reading military and mystery thrillers, he accumulated a vast and diverse personal library.

At his father's death, still commuting on weekends from Cleveland to Portsmouth, Hugh converted the family fiberglass business to a virtual firm to support his mother for her later years.

Assigned to Lions Club by AT&T for community service and representation of the corporate office, he served as President of Springfield Lions, Cleveland Lions, and was President-Elect of Columbus Lions Club, then served two terms as President of the Oxford Lions Club. With the Columbus, Ohio Lions Club, he initiated and managed a public school system-wide annual essay competition to combat drug abuse.

Missing military camaraderie, Hugh joined the Ohio Air National Guard at Rickenbacker Air Base in Columbus, Ohio. Still with AT&T, he trained with the Guard in the upper peninsula of Michigan, Hawaii, Nevada, Germany, Panama and Great Britain. At age 39, he attended Ohio Air National Guard Officer's School in Maryville, TN, and was promoted to Lieutenant, Captain and Major with high security clearance in the Rickenbacker Intel Shop.

Reluctantly departing AT&T, Hugh earned the Master of Science in Marketing at The Ohio State University in Columbus, then his PhD in Marketing with a Minor in Logistics, also at Ohio State. Hugh's work with corporate America, merged with his experience in Air Force intel, produced an expertise and passion for logistics and supply chain management, which he applied to his teaching career. His students frequently thanked him for his instructive military and business stories.

At age 50, with Mary and their 6 months old son, Hugh IV, he moved to his first faculty job at the University of Mississippi. Of several interesting faculty offers (NY, CA, NJ, MI) he chose Ole Miss because he thought he could best contribute to the state, and... because they took him to Smitty's for breakfast where, like in North Carolina, "they served grits, instead of hash browns". He immediately called Mary and told her: "I'm home!"

Recruited to be the Director of the UM Small Business Development Institute in 1981, he guided marketing students in hundreds of studies, creating business and marketing plans for small enterprises across north Mississippi. As Director, Hugh enthusiastically guided these novice team projects with local businesses in coordination with the Small Business Administration. Each of these marketing studies and business plans generated federal funding for the business school and also supported many Mississippi entrepreneurs. At the same time, a "utility infielder," Hugh taught Introduction to Marketing, Retail, Global Marketing, Supply Chain... whatever needed to be taught. He lobbied for years for a logistics/supply chain major within the school, and it is now taking shape, to his great delight.                                                                       

Hugh took pride in his service work for the university and Oxford, such as being an advisor to Golden Key honorary, admitted to membership alongside author Barry Hannah. With Mary, he served as Co-Chairman of the Bramlett Elementary PTA, and was a researcher and founding member of the Board of Directors of Yocona International Folk Festival. He served Cambridge United Methodist Church in leadership and finance. He became a lay speaker, Chair of the Pastor-Parish Committee, and represented the Oxford Central Parish at the Mississippi United Methodist Conference in Jackson.

For Chancellor Robert Khayat, Hugh did an early economic impact study of Ole Miss football, which resulted in all the home games being played in Oxford instead of Jackson and Memphis. He documented current "heads on beds", meals, gas sales and other travel expenditures, which resulted in growth of our football economy, restaurants, arts, hotels and tourism. Then followed a UM baseball economic impact study that resulted in the expansion of the stadium and generated greater tourism taxes.

At the request of Harry Sneed and the LOU Chamber of Commerce, Hugh developed an airport economic impact study, resulting in the extension of the UOX airport runway and eventually a new terminal. For the Town of Sardis, he developed an economic impact study with Waggoner Engineering of Jackson, eventually resulting in the development of that marina.

One of his most interesting summer projects was research for the Center for Intelligence and Security Studies at Ole Miss. But... that study is classified!

For years, he evaluated candidates for the US State Department university faculty exchange selection committee, and he hosted a visiting lecturer from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, who became a lifelong friend of the Sloan family.

Over the years, the Sloans hosted US State Department international exchange students through a program called FLEX. These students arrived for ten months and attended Oxford High School from Tiraspol, Transnistria (Moldova); Tbilisi, Georgia; Vilnius, Lithuania and Moscow, Russia. Hugh befriended may Russian language students at Ole Miss while he served on a committee at Oxford University United Methodist Church to host international students for their 4th of July American Picnics and Christmas parties.

With IBS: International Business Seminars, Dr. Sloan travelled with Ole Miss and other university's students to learn about trans-cultural business practices in Australia and The Czech Republic.

The summer of 1998, he taught Ole Miss students at Downing College, Cambridge University, England; and with the tagalong family, drove to the Johnston Clan home in Moffatt, Scotland. So many roundabouts! Our family is fond of crediting Hugh with initiating our controversial Oxford roundabout on Old Taylor Road at Gertrude Ford Boulevard, when one fall term he served as Co-Chairman of the Traffic and Parking Committee at the University. In deciding whether to use traffic lights or stop signs at this new intersection, Hugh suggested a roundabout, and reminded the committee that "The Square is a roundabout." MDOT engineers were thrilled. "Nobody ever lets us do roundabouts!" A closet revolutionary, he loved driving on the "wrong side of the road".

Following the late Jeff Meaders, and having been a Civil Air Patrol cadet, Hugh led Oxford's Steve Launius Composite Squadron, Civil Air Patrol, empowering cadets and senior leaders to excel in aerospace education, emergency services, and the noblest Air Force traditions. CAP's Mississippi Wing honored his years as Director of Aerospace Education and many other duties with the T.G. Fortune Lifetime Achievement Award.

The consummate community servant, Hugh has been a member of Military Officers Association of America. He founded the World Future Society in Columbus, Ohio. He has enjoyed reunions with his oldest friends and mentors, the "Peshawar Bandits." Hugh spoke for Lions, Rotary, Barksdale Honors College, and the Daughters of the American Revolution. Hugh took immense pride in the Japanese Garden he created on Audubon Drive with Benjamin Koltai, Designer, and James Joyner, Installer.

Not a strong advocate of publishing for the academic media to be read mainly by other academicians, Hugh finally published his "Global Marketing" digital textbook with embedded tests, study guides, quizzes and exam questions, and graphic design to describe his multi-dimensional vision of this dynamic and evolving field of study.

Dr. Sloan retired as Associate Professor Emeritus of Marketing at the University of Mississippi after teaching for 29 years. He taught thousands of students and hundreds of Civil Air Patrol cadets. He loved teaching and all his students.

Dr. Sloan will be long missed by his family and friends for his generosity, his fearless view of life and, to quote a colleague, his insatiable intellectual curiosity. Hugh is survived by his wife and best friend, Mary Love Stringfield Sloan, of Oxford; one son, Hugh Johnston Sloan IV, of Oxford; one daughter, Susan Kathleen Sloan, of Plano, TX; and one sister, Mary Linda Sloan Guernsey, of Fairborn, OH. Also surviving Dr. Sloan are nephew and niece Michael Hugh Guernsey and Kristina Nicole Quinn (Robert), two grandnephews, Michael Hugh Quinn and Kolton Alan Quinn, and one grandniece, Ashlyn Faith Quinn. He also leaves two granddaughters, Danielle Marie Gebhart and Stacey Renee Pressley (Christian), and three great-grandchildren, Kailey Celeste Hendrix, Kaydon Kyree Hendrix and Aniya Rose Pressley.

"Each day starts with an hour of our choosing. Yesterday may prove to be the easy day, but we must move forward. The measure of our days is more precious than the measure of our years."

Hugh J. Sloan III