Harold Bailey, a respected pharmacy faculty member and university administrator for 34 years, died Nov. 8, 2017, at the Brookings Hospital at age 95.
Bailey was honored as a distinguished nonalumnus in 2011. At his retirement in 1985, the South Dakota Board of Regents honored him with the title of vice president for academic affairs emeritus and distinguished professor of pharmacy. His last day was June 30, 1985, and Gov. Bill Janklow declared June 27, 1985, to be Harold S. Bailey Jr. Day.
He arrived on campus in September 1951 as an assistant professor in pharmacology. He spent just 11 years in pharmacy, advancing to professor of pharmaceutical chemistry and then department head.
In 1961, President Hilton M. Briggs appointed Bailey as the school’s first head of academic affairs. He remained in that office for 24 years, which is believed to be a national record among land-grant institutions. In 2011, one of SDSU’s primary academic buildings, Rotunda Hall, became Bailey Rotunda Hall.
Off-campus, Bailey was very active in the community as a 50-year member of Kiwanis, president of the Brookings chapter of the American Red Cross and the Brookings Hospital/Brookview Manor board of trustees. In 1997, he received the Liberty Bell Award from the Brookings Bar Association for his voluntary community service.
He was preceded in death by his wife of 62 years, Barbara Ann (Dewey), and a brother, Richard.
Bailey is survived by his five children, a sister, 12 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren.
Memorial gifts can be made to the Brookings First United Methodist Church Foundation or the Harold and Barbara Bailey Endowment in support of academic leadership at SDSU.
