Below is the contents of John’s obituary that appeared in the Omaha World-Herald Titled “UNO communications professor John Wanzenried dazzled in the classroom, ‘brought to life the concepts’ he taught”

A background in theater helped UNO professor John Wanzenried dazzle in the classroom, a former student said Tuesday.

“He was, I believe, ahead of his time because he wasn’t just lecturing,” Mary Bernier said. “John would design activities that brought to life the concepts he was presenting, and I think that came from his work in the theater.”

Bernier, a former director of development for the University of Nebraska Foundation, met Wanzenried when she returned to school as “a 28-year-old nontraditional student.” She took many of his classes, including interpersonal communication and nonverbal communication at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Wanzenried’s class on organizational communication, Bernier said, later helped her land a job managing conferences for UNO. She now operates Inspired Giving, a company that raises money for and directs donations to nonprofit groups.

“John was my mentor as an undergraduate and graduate student,” Bernier said. “I think that was the reason I’ve succeeded in life. I owe John a great deal.”

Wanzenried, 74, of Omaha had been battling dementia and died Jan. 25 at an Omaha hospice surrounded by his family, said his wife of 34 years, Lucy Wanzenried. Services were held Monday at First Central Congregational Church.

Wanzenried was raised in upstate New York, graduating from high school in the village of Cleveland, New York. He received a bachelor’s degree in communication from Greensboro (North Carolina) College and a master’s degree in theater from Bowling Green State University in Ohio, his wife said.

In 1966, he began teaching speech and debate at Omaha University, which became part of the University of Nebraska system two years later. He went on to earn a Ph.D. in communication from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Wanzenried quit teaching in 1990 to become associate dean of Arts and Sciences at UNO. At first, he worried about missing the interaction of the classroom, said former colleague Hugh Cowdin, who retired as chairman of UNO’s communications department.

“He was an excellent teacher, and he loved students so much that he was a little unsure about taking that job in the dean’s office,” Cowdin said. “But he found that he was more involved with students than ever.”

Wanzenried retired in 2007, his wife said. Two years earlier, he told the UNO Alumni magazine that his time at the school had been very special.

“I’ve loved both my jobs here,” he said. “Forty years is a long time, and I’ll surely miss it all when I leave.”

Wanzenried was preceded in death by his daughter Liesl Wanzenried. In addition to his wife, he is survived by son Brian Wanzenried of Omaha; daughters, Hanna Solberg of Omaha and Marcy Hart of Philadelphia; former wife, Kelly Wanzenried of Omaha; sisters Kathy Ryan of Omaha and Lilly Wanzenried of Rochester, New York; and brother Pete Wanzenried of Sacramento, California; and three grandchildren.