Neal was born in 1930 and spent most of his childhood years in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and graduated from Chapel Hill High School where he played football, basketball, and baseball.
After high school, Neal attended Sullivan’s Preparatory School in Washington DC and entered West Point with the class of 1953. Neal married the love of his life, Joan Hicks, in 1958 in Louisville, Kentucky. He then attended the University of Madrid, Spain, and received his MA in foreign languages from Middlebury College in Vermont. From 1960-1963, he served on the faculty at West Point, first as an instructor and later as Assistant Professor of Spanish. Neal and Joan became parents to their daughter Linda while stationed at West Point and later to daughter Lisa and son Neal while serving in Panama.
Neal served 31 years in the US Army, rising to the rank of Major General. He commanded an Armored Cavalry Squadron in Vietnam in 1968 and the First Infantry Division at Fort Riley in 1982-84. Other assignments included: Military Assistant, Office of the Secretary of the Army; Deputy Director of Operations and Readiness on the Army Staff; Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior U.S. Officer at Headquarters, Allied Forces, Central Europe; and Director of the Inter-American Region in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense. Neal received numerous military decorations, including seven for valor, one of which was the Silver Star. In 2005, the West Point Association of Gradates designated him as a Distinguished Graduate.
From 1986-99, Neal was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation in Chicago. The McCormick Tribune Foundation is one of the nation's largest foundations (net worth in 1999: $2.2 billion), with both national and international programs. During the 14 years of Neal’s tenure at the McCormick Tribune Foundation, he was a frequent Op-Ed writer for the Chicago Tribune and commentator on national defense for Chicago television stations. After the McCormick Foundation, Neal served as President of Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri.
From October 1, 2001 to September 30, 2002, Neal served as the Executive Director of The Liberty Memorial Project in Kansas City, Missouri. Constructed in 1926, Liberty Memorial, a Kansas City landmark, was dedicated to honor those who fought in World War I. Prior to Neal’s appointment, the Memorial had been closed since 1994. Neal oversaw its reopening after a multimillion-dollar renovation. In 2004, Liberty Memorial was designated the National World War I Museum of the United States. In 2006, it opened its nationally acclaimed 80,000 square foot renovated museum and research center.
Neal was a great patriot and leader of soldiers, but most of all, he was a husband and a father. He lived his life loving his family and passed with great memories and no unfulfilled dreams. Neal told part of his family story in a book he authored “A Different Path, The Story Of An Army Family”.
Grief is the price you pay for love, and the Creighton family’s grief is profound; however, they would pay that grief over and over again to have one more day in this world with Neal. He passed peacefully on September 15th, 2020 holding his wife Joan’s hand, and left his family and friends behind to reunite in heaven.
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