JAMRICH

MARQUETTE — John X. Jamrich, president of Northern Michigan University from 1968 to 1983, died Sunday at age 101 in Savannah, Georgia.

Jamrich was the eighth president of NMU.

Jamrich’s wife, June, died in 2020. She was active in campus life, having participated in renovating the old Kaye House and in the design of the new Kaye House.

Anyone wishing to express sympathy is asked to consider the John X. and June A. Jamrich Music Scholarship in care of the NMU Foundation, 1401 Presque Isle Ave., Marquette, MI 49855.

Canale-Tonella Funeral Home and Cremation Service, which is serving the Jamrich family, is expected to release a complete obituary soon.

NMU also is expected to release additional information and commentary on Jamrich, as well as a statement from interim President Kerri Schuiling today.

However, his family passed on some details of the former NMU president’s life.

Jamrich was born near downstate Muskegon in 1920 to Slovakian immigrant parents. As a teen, he excelled in academics, music and athletics, and seriously considered a career in music. However, instead of becoming a concert pianist, he turned to the field of higher education, eventually graduating from Ripon College, the University of Chicago and Northwestern University.

During World War II, Jamrich was assigned to the U.S. Army Air Corps in Alaska as a liaison officer. In 1944, he was granted leave for a trip to Kenosha, Wisconsin, to marry June Hrupka.

At the end of the war, Jamrich finished his education and began his career with college administration, beginning in Iowa and Nebraska and then moving on to Michigan, where he worked for the state Legislature and for the Michigan State University College of Education.

During his tenure as NMU president, Jamrich led the effort to build nursing, criminal justice, computer science and the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps programs.

Jamrich supervised construction of the Learning Resources Center, the original Jamrich Hall, the Jacobetti Skills Center, the Physical Educational Instructional Facility, Cohodas Hall and Kaye House.

Jamrich also handled controversies such as faculty unionization and student protests. He negotiated solutions using a hands-on approach that involved open office hours, established lines of communication, visits to dormitories and lunches with students.

Following his retirement as NMU president, he was a consultant for several entities involved in higher education, including MSU and the Michigan Legislature. After moving to Florida, he and his wife put in thousands of hours as volunteers.

In 2014, Jamrich was honored with the naming of a new instructional facility on the NMU campus, John X. Jamrich Hall, serving as speaker at the opening ceremony.

Christie Mastric can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 250. Her email address is cbleck@miningjournal.net.