Ray Warren '65,
M.A.T. '71

Ray Warren, a dual graduate of Lewis & Clark College (B.S. '65, M.A.T '71), a 1989 inductee into the Lewis & Clark College Sports Hall of Fame, and a beloved staff member, passed away December 19, 2004, after a 7-year bout with cancer.

Ray Warren began his work at Lewis & Clark in 1987 as an associate dean of admissions and was named associate dean of students and director of ethnic student services in 1992. He was instrumental in admissions recruiting and in supporting students of color at Lewis & Clark. He took the lead on organizing the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. day celebrations held on campus, and his leadership was an essential part of the Diversity Cluster and the LINCS programs. Ray was a strong supporter of the athletic program and our student athletes here as well.

Ray was born in 1942 and grew up in the Pleasant Hill community near Linden, Texas, until his family moved to Portland when he was 14. Ray graduated from Jefferson High School in Portland and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Health and Physical Education from Lewis & Clark College in 1965 and a Master of Arts in Teaching degree from Lewis & Clark in 1971. He served in the U.S. Army from 1965-1967 and had a tour of duty in Vietnam, and then he taught school at Vernon Elementary School in Portland for four years where he met his wife Sheryl.

Ray served as Associate Dean of Admissions at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, for seven years beginning in 1971, and after working in commercial banking for seven years, he rejoined higher education and worked with students at Reed College from 1984 to 1987. Then he returned to Lewis & Clark College for good. He was elected to the Lewis & Clark College Sports Hall of Fame in 1989 for his excellence as a baseball player during his college years, and just this past fall a new annual symposium, the Ray Warren Multicultural Symposium, was named in his honor.

Ray was 62 years old when he died peacefully and comfortably at home with his wife Sheryl, daughter Mindy, and other family members by his side on December 19, 2004. He had battled cancer for a number of years, and succumbed to cancer that had metastasized to his liver. Along with being a husband and a father, Ray was an important part of the large and well-known Warren family here in Portland. A wonderful service celebrating his life was held at the Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church in Portland on December 27, 2004. A Memorial Celebration at Lewis & Clark College was held in Agnes Flanagan Chapel on January 30, 2005.

Ray will posthumously receive the Donald G. Balmer Citation, which honors an alumnus/a, faculty or staff member, or friend of Lewis & Clark who has rendered outstanding voluntary service to the College at the 2006 Alumni Honors Banquet.

(Posted September 2006)