Bob Moorhead, former School leader, dies at 81
Nov. 10, 2013
Robert Burns Moorhead Jr., MPA, who served on the leadership teams of three deans at UNC’s public health school, died peacefully in Chapel Hill, N.C., on Nov. 5, 2013. He was 81.
Mr. Moorhead was named assistant to Dean Fred Mayes in 1967 and held several administrative positions at the school now called Gillings School of Global Public Health until his retirement in 1993, including as an associate dean under Deans Bernard Greenberg and Michel Ibrahim.
As a primary adviser to the deans, he served as liaison to members of the faculty, academic committees and other entities throughout the University. He also had major responsibilities related to staffing and budget issues.
His leadership helped produce the first computing system on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus that placed terminals on the desks of faculty and staff, resulting in services as early as 1982 that included word processing, spreadsheet applications and email.
“In the early 1980s, he correctly perceived the value that computer technology was just beginning to offer to office and business-related tasks,” said Robert C. Schreiner, now retired, who was named the School’s first director of Computing and Information Services in 1983. “He directed the School’s leadership toward services that complemented University-provided research services such as statistical computing, and he became a University-wide leader in developing those services.”
Family members knew Mr. Moorhead to have a keen wit, a love of learning and an intense curiosity about the world, and remember him as an adventuresome spirit who enjoyed piloting airplanes, sailing, travel, playing clarinet and spending time with friends.
He is survived by three daughters, Lynn Morton (and Rit), Jane Lyonnais (and Mike) and Becky McGrath (and Scott); brother George Moorhead; and nine grandchildren.
A graveside service will be held on Friday, Dec. 20 at 4 p.m. at Chapel Hill Memorial Cemetery on Fordham Boulevard at Legion Road. A celebration-of-life reception will follow at the Chapel Hill home of Mr. Moorhead’s daughter Jane. The family welcomes Mr. Moorhead’s former colleagues and hope they will bring stories about his life at the UNC School of Public Health.
For details about the reception, please email jane.lyonnais@thomsonreuters.com or call (919) 818-0311.
In lieu of flowers, the family invites friends and colleagues to support WUNC Radio or other local public radio stations.
