Person:Euclid Marietta (1)

E. L. "Vern" Marietta, professor emeritus of business education at Western Michigan University, died May 12, 2004, in Kalamazoo. He was 87.

Marietta came to WMU in 1962 as head of the Department of Business Education and retired in 1979. Marietta and his family lived in Nigeria from 1966 to 1968 while working on a WMU project for USAID that helped establish a Technical College in Ibadan.

He taught at the University of Northern Iowa from 1949 to 1956 and at Michigan State University from 1956 to 1962. He earned a bachelor's degree from Southern Illinois University in 1938 and two degrees from the University of Iowa, a master of arts in 1941 and a doctorate in 1949.

Marietta began his career as high school teacher, then enlisted in the Navy during World War II. He was captain of a subchaser for more than two years and after the war, stayed in the Naval Reserve, retiring in 1968 as a lieutenant commander. He was an avid traveler and active in the local community.