In Memoriam

Pat Bruce Harris (’68) passed away March 22 in Vero Beach, Florida. Born in Logan, West Virginia, on Sept. 4, 1946, to the late Robert Bruce and Margaret (Goodwin) Harris, Harris graduated from Logan High School and Marshall University.

Harris spent his business career as a sales and marketing executive, starting out at Sears Roebuck in Charleston, West Virginia; Cumberland, Maryland; and Buffalo, New York. He then spent many years in the newspaper industry as advertising director for the Gannett Rochester Newspapers, vice president of Gannett Media Sales in New York and VP of Eastern Sales for the national newspaper USA Today. He later became executive vice president of sales and marketing for the in-store marketing firm ActMedia in Connecticut, and closed his career as CEO of internet promotions pioneer IGain.

Harris was happiest spending time with his family, especially on the water. Harris sailed catamarans on Lake Erie and Lake Ontario and trimarans on Long Island Sound and Narragansett Bay. He director of player development at Northwestern University. She began at Northwestern in 2013 as the director of video operations; and before Northwestern, she spent six years at the University of Memphis as the football program’s video coordinator.

2010s

Elea Paybins (’19) illustrated the new children’s book “Kurt Discovers the Orchestra” by West Virginia author Tom Beal. This is the second book Paybins and Beal have worked on together, the first being “Bara Seal & Emily Too,” which was published in 2018.

was an early adopter of windsurfing and continued to windsurf well into his 70s. A past commodore of the Norwalk Yacht Club and a member of the New York Yacht Club, Harris was dedicated to exposing others to the joy, confidence and resilience developed through sailing. For the past eight years, Harris had served as the chairman of the board for the Youth Sailing Foundation of Indian River County (YSF), whose mission is to provide Indian River County, Florida, with educational, recreational and competitive sailing programs for all ages in a safe environment. Also at YSF, Harris taught adult sailing, managed regattas on the Indian River Lagoon and worked with other volunteers in the maintenance shop.

Harris is survived by his beloved wife of 58 years, Julia, with whom he raised three devoted daughters: Mimi (Erich) Steadman, Emily and Erica (Mat) Nardone. Harris is also survived by dear sisters Shawn Chillag and Robin Harris, and six cherished grandchildren who lovingly called him Pop.

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Marshall University and the Marshall University Alumni Association (MUAA) proudly hosted the 84th annual Alumni Awards Banquet on Saturday, April 1, at the Brad D. Smith Foundation Hall.

The banquet recognizes outstanding alumni, university supporters and students during an evening of celebration and reverence of the great things being accomplished by the Marshall University alumni community.

Highlighting the list of more than a dozen honorees at the 2023 awards banquet were Bill Noe and Dr. Randi D. Ward as the recipients of the Marshall University Distinguished Alumnus and Alumna awards. Randy Dunfee was selected as the recipient of the Distinguished Service to Marshall University award; Mendy Aluise was selected as the recipient of the Outstanding Community Achievement award; and Christopher Taylor received the Distinguished Young Alumnus award.

Bill Noe

Born in Ashland, Kentucky, and raised in Huntington, Bill Noe is the chief aviation officer for the Division of Aviation at Marshall. Noe, an accomplished pilot and business executive, is the former president and chief operations officer for NetJets, a global private jet company based in Columbus, Ohio.