It is with sadness to report the death on 11 December, 2019, of Terrence (Terry) Dolan who served as President of IASSIDD from 1992 to 1996. Our thoughts are with his wife Mary Ann, his children and extended family.
Terry was born on 24 May 1940, in Huron, South Dakota, the eldest of six children. He received his B.A. in Psychology from Dakota Wesleyan University in 1962, A M.S. from Trinity University in Physiological Psychology in 1963 and a Ph.D in Psychology and Physiology in 1966 at the University of Texas, Austin in 1970. In 1970, Terry completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship with Dr Dewey Neff at Indiana University.
Before taking up the position of Directorship of the Waisman Center for Mental Retardation and Human Development at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1982, Terry held positions of Director of the Parmly Research Institute at Loyola University; Program Director of Behavioral and Neural Sciences at the National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C.; and a Von Humboldt Scholar at the University of Erlangen, Germany.
Prior to his presidency of IASSIDD Terry served terms as President of the Association of Mental Retardation Research Centers in the U.S. and President of the American Association of University Programs for People with Disabilities.
Terry was elected President Elect of IASSIDD at its Council meeting held in conjunction with the 1988 Congress held at Trinity College, Dublin, following the nomination by then President Dr Michael Mulcahy. Terry then led the Program Committee for the successful 1992 Congress held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia; the first being held in the Southern Hemisphere. Through Terry’s influence many of the leading researchers in intellectual disabilities from the U.S. made the long journey to “down under”, enriching the array of scientific presentations.
During Terry’s presidency a number of structural initiatives were adopted by the Association, including the formation of Special Interest Research Groups (SIRGs), the introduction of Individual Memberships and a name change from the International Association for the Scientific Study of Mental Deficiency to the more contemporary International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual Disabilities.
As Past-President, Terry provided strong support to the Local Organising Committee for the 2000 Congress held in Seattle.
But for us who were close to him, it was the cutting sense of humour and love of the laugh that we will remember.
In 2017, Terry was honoured with a Lifetime Distinguished Alumni Award from Dakota Wesleyan University In retirement, Terry and Mary Ann first relocated to Tucson, Arizona and in 2008 to Chicago to be closer to children and grandchildren.
Neil Ross
Trevor Parmenter