Dr. Floyd W. Dunn

Dr. Floyd W. Dunn, professor emeritus of chemistry and one of the first Graduate School deans at Abilene Christian University, died May 26, 2014 in Abilene at age 93. Funeral services will be 2:00p.m., Monday, June 2, 2014 at the University Church of Christ Chapel, 733 E.N. 16th St., under the direction of Elliott-Hamil Funeral Home, 542 Hickory St. Visitation will be Sunday afternoon from 4:00p.m. to 6:00p.m. at the funeral home.

Floyd was born Dec. 15, 1920, on a family farm near Dayton, Ark. He hitchhiked from Conway, Ark., to Abilene in 1941 to attend ACU, where his brother, Frank, was enrolled. Following a year as a business major, he took an interest in science during a class taught by Dr. Paul Witt. Witt's influence proved far-reaching in Dunn’s life: he graduated with a degree in chemistry and married Witt's daughter, Pauline on Oct. 27, 1944.

The Dunn’s moved to Boulder where he earned a M.S. degree from the University of Colorado in 1946 and a Ph.D. degree in biochemistry in 1950. He was the first ACU graduate to earn a bachelor's degree and doctorate in chemistry. The couple returned to Abilene in 1946 and began a more than three-decade-long career teaching chemistry at Abilene Christian. As the first faculty member to receive outside grant support, he helped organize ACU’s Science/Math Research Fund, serving as dean of research and chair of the ACU Research Council, and chair of the Health Professions Advisory Committee. He served as full-time dean of ACU's Graduate School from 1972-84, and retired in 1986.

In 1958 he began a decades-long relationship with the country and people of Thailand, serving as a consultant at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok with a team from the University of Texas. He taught as professor of biochemistry at the University of Tennessee Medical School in Memphis from 1963-1965. He then returned as part of a team from the University of Illinois to teach biochemistry in Chiang Mai from 1965-1968, helping to establish Thailand’s first medical school outside of Bangkok. Even after retiring from ACU, he returned frequently to lecture and advise faculty and students in Chiang Mai. In all these places, Professor Dunn taught and mentored many outstanding students who became academic leaders and life-long friends. He was honored for his service to the people of Thailand by the king in 1996 when he was named Commander of the Most Noble Order of the Crown of Thailand, and in 2005 by Her Majesty Princess Maha Sirindhorn with an honorary doctorate degree for his work in developing the medical school at Chiang Mai University. A library at that university bears his name, as does the Dunn Conference Room in ACU’s Foster Science Building.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Fred and Mae (Waters) Dunn; brothers, Harold Dunn and Frank Dunn; and a sister, Anita Knowles. Survivors include Pauline, his beloved wife of 69 years; two daughters, Shirley Dunn and Nina Dunn Dikin; a son, James Dunn, M.D.; three grandchildren, James Wittley and Daniel Worley Dunn, and Amanda Joy Trafton; and one great-granddaughter, Norah Hope Trafton.

You may view and sign guestbook at www.elliotthamilfuneralhome.com