Colleagues, students fondly remember mentor

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George Axinn never forgot a professor he had in his undergraduate years who met with students around his fireplace and served them hot cocoa as they discussed their studies.

It was an experience that had a significant impact on the way he led his classes as a professor of resource development at MSU.

“He always believed that the classroom was not enough,” said his son, Bill Axinn, now a professor at the University of Michigan who also has followed his father’s teaching methods. “He was engaged in their lives as a whole — the whole person was important to him, not just the assignments or the grades or what was in that course.”

Axinn, who continued to teach an MSU course online and at times returned to the university to teach free of charge after moving to Tucson, Ariz. in the late 1990s, died March 8 of natural causes after having seizures from unknown causes, his daughter, Martha Jerrim, said. He was 84-years-old.

In his 50 years at MSU, colleagues say George Axinn shaped the lives of not only his students, but of people around the world and generations to come through his mentorship of students who would later take leadership roles in higher education.

From hosting dinners for students at his home to helping sculpt MSU’s role abroad, Axinn — also a former assistant dean of International Studies and Programs — had a far-reaching impact, colleague and friend Frank Fear said.

“When I would travel around the world and talk with people, they’d say, ‘Oh, you’re from Michigan State,’ and his name would always come up,” said Fear, a senior associate dean of MSU’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. “There is just a handful of people at Michigan State that have the kind of reputation that George did.”

Described by those who knew him as compassionate, generous and gregarious, Axinn traveled to India, Africa and Nepal with his wife to address poverty and hunger. The two recruited students from abroad, who they welcomed into their home as family, said Scott Witter, a professor in MSU’s Department of Community, Agriculture, Recreation and Resource Studies who worked with Axinn.

“This was a person that could see the really big picture and the need to make a difference in peoples’ lives around the world,” Witter said. “George was one of those folks that got people excited about going around and making a difference in other peoples’ lives.”

As a professor and mentor, Axinn was popular among students, who remembered him for years to come.

“He’s the kind of guy that folks who graduated 30 years ago under his tutorage will still send him letters thanking him for the contributions he made to their education,” Witter said.

In her professional career, Diane Ruonavaara still looks to material Axinn gave her from his personal library in her days as one of his students. Ruonavaara, now program manager for MSU’s Tanzania Partnership, said she still is impacted by Axinn and his role in her life.

“If it hadn’t been for him and some of the other resource development faculty, I probably wouldn’t have maintained my commitment to international development because it’s not an easy field to get into,” Ruonavaara said. “He was very accessible (and) extremely knowledgeable. He was a mentor — just very supportive of his students. He took a personal interest in their well-being. He would have us over to his house, and his wife, Nancy, would cook us a dinner with international food. We were just a family type community.”

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