Edward J. Mayo
Introduction
Ed was Professor Emeritus at Western Michigan University, he passed away on 19 Apr
DR. EDWARD J. MAYO
Dr. Edward J. Mayo, Jr., age 78, Holland, MI, passed away on April 19, 2019 after a long illness. Ed was professor emeritus of marketing in the Haworth College of Business at Western Michigan University, where he taught sports marketing, marketing strategy, professional selling, and marketing research. Well-known for encouraging his students to develop a “Marketing Toolkit” to use after graduation, Ed was the recipient of a WMU Alumni Association Teaching Excellence Award. Prior to his illness, he also taught sports marketing as a visiting professor at The University of Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business.
Before joining the Western Michigan University faculty, Ed was director of the Dick Pope Tourism Research Institute at the University of Central Florida and director of the Hayes-Healy Tourism Management Program at The University of Notre Dame. He served as a first lieutenant in the United States Air Force in Fairbanks, Alaska, from 1962-68.
Ed received his Ph.D. in marketing and regional economics from Penn State University, his MS from the University of Alaska, and his BS from Villanova University. He authored numerous articles on tourism and sports marketing, and he co-authored The Psychology of Leisure Travel: Effective Marketing and Selling of Travel Services with Lance P. Jarvis. His consulting assignments included Best Western, United Airlines, 3M National Advertising, the Outdoor Advertising Association of America, the National Restaurant Association, a number of state tourism agencies, and the Kalamazoo Kings minor league baseball team. He was also involved with the ownership group of the Albany Diamond Dogs minor league baseball team.
Ed was a lifelong fan of baseball and the Detroit Tigers. His father Eddie Mayo played second base for the 1945 World Series Champion Detroit Tigers and later coached for the Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Philllies. In his youth, Ed enjoyed playing pepper with members of the Detroit Tigers, shagged balls with Ted Williams, and served as a batboy with the Phillies. At the time of his passing, he was writing a book titled Sport and the Common Good.
Born June 21, 1940 in Los Angeles to Edward and Margaret (Hussey) Mayo, Ed is survived by Cindy (McIntyre) Mayo, his wife of 45 years, daughter Meg Mayo-Brown and husband Greg Brown, son Edward J. Mayo III and wife Jen (Russell), stepson Jason Shear, daughter Jennifer Mayo, and nine grandchildren. He is lovingly remembered by his family, students and colleagues as kind, generous, caring, affable, thoughtful, silly, and humble…in other words, almost perfect.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated in memory of Ed on Thursday, April 25, at 11:00 a.m. at Our Lady of the Lake, 480 152nd Street, Holland. A visitation will be one hour prior to the service. Memorial donations in memory of Ed may be made to Special Olympics Michigan, Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859.