Obituary of Lyle W. Shannon

Lyle W. Shannon, 85, of Iowa City, died, December 20, 2005. No services are planned at this time. Burial of the cremains will be made with those of his spouse, Magdeline, who died in September of 2001. Arrangements have been made by Gay & Ciha Funeral and Cremation Services in Iowa City. Dr. Shannon was a Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Iowa. He was Chair of the Department of Sociology at Iowa during its most contentious, interesting, and developing years (1962-70). From then until his "retirement" he was Director of the Iowa Urban Community Research Center. In addition to being a teacher and administrator, Lyle published many scholarly articles and books. Early publications in the 1950's and 60's dealt with the relationship of economic and social development to the political status of some 200 self-governing countries and non-self-governing colonies, concluding that neither economic nor social development had been a prerequisite to self-government. His 1957 volume, Underdeveloped Areas: A Book of Readings and Research, presaged a generation of research and publications on development and nation building and presented what might appear to be a never ending argument on the wisdom of such endeavors by the United States and for that matter the United Nations. His last four books, all in the last ten years, represent varied interests. Two of them, Criminal Career Continuity: Its Social Context, (1988) and Alcohol and Drugs, Delinquency and Crime, (1998) were based on the Racine birth cohorts. A book of readings and research, Developing Areas (1995) (with Vijayan K. Pillai) was a complete revision of his 1957 volume. A humorous commentary of political wisdom from two cats Socks and Cretin: Two Democrats Helping Bill With the Presidency, was published in 1995. Based on correspondence between then-President Clinton's cat and Shannon's cat, in it we learn that humor, even among cats, is an excellent device for presenting variations in human behavior. Dr. Shannon received the BA in Sociology from Cornell College in Mt.Vernon, Iowa and the MA and Ph.D. from the University of Washington in Seattle. He taught at the University of Washington, several summers at Portland State University, the University of Wyoming, the University of Colorado, and Wayne State University in addition to ten years at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. The University of Iowa in Iowa City became his final resting place. He was born in Storm Lake, Iowa in 1920 and always referred to the place as stormy and the year as the one in which women got the vote - two good omens for one whose activities often touched on political controversies. During World War II he served in the Navy, rising to the rank of Lt. Commander. He was preceded in death by his historian spouse whom he credited, as did his eldest daughter, for keeping him from frittering his life away with tavern-dwelling companions. He is survived by two daughters, Mary Shannon Will of Calgary, Canada, Susan Michelle Shannon of Mission Hills, California, and two sons, Robert William Shannon of Seattle, Washington and John Thomas Shannon of Missoula Montana. In lieu of flowers, the family requests any memorial donations be made to the Iowa City Women's Shelter or to a charity of their choice.