Former dean Pike dies at 79

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Former Dean of Students and graduate studies Professor Milton Pike filled his life with community, work and family.

Pike, called “Milt” by friends and family, died in Holland Friday after an extended battle with non-Hogdkins’s disease, a form of cancer. He was 79.

Pike was a member of the CMU faculty for 27 years, donating much of his time to service in and outside the university.

“When you look at a group of faculty, there are certain (people) among them that stand out and Milt is a gem. He stands out,” said Ted Kjolhedge, former CMU basketball coach and athletic director who knew Pike through shared membership in the United Methodist Church, 160 W. Main St.

Pike was a graduate studies professor in the CMU department of counseling and guidance until he retired in 1989.

“He was very much loved by students and faculty. He had a tremendous reputation,” said Mandy Kliber, Pike’s daughter.

Merton Pike, Milton’s brother, described him as “very professor-like.”

“He was a gentleman of the old school, a good teacher and a credit to Central,” said Olga Denison, longtime family neighbor, friend and 1940 CMU graduate.

Outside the university, Pike served as a president of the Mount Pleasant Rotary Club, where he was named a Paul Harris Fellow, a high honor among the organization. He was a board member of Hospice of Mount Pleasant and a member of the state board of the YMCA and the Michigan YMCA camp program.

“He was very active in volunteer community activities,” Kliber said.

In recent years, after Pike and his wife of 54 years, Laura-Lee, moved to Holland, he was a member of the Third Reformed Church of Holland and the Hope College Association of Senior Professionals.

Pike served many local causes and services he believed in, Denison said.

“He was maybe an A-, but almost an A in everything he touched,” Kjolhedge said.

Prior to his work at CMU, Pike, born in Virginia, was the Dean of Men at Northern Illinois University in De Kalb.

He graduated from Middlebury College in 1947, earned his master’s degree at the University of Vermont and received his doctorate in counseling and guidance at Michigan State University.

While at Middlebury College, he met his wife. They married in 1948.

Before his marriage, Pike fought with the 100th Infantry division in World War II, where he was captured by Germans in the Battle of the Bulge.

“He did not really talk about it much, but he was proud of his military service,” Kliber said.

Pike is survived by his wife; his three children, the Rev. Steven and Vicki Pike of Missouri Valley, Iowa, Jeffrey and Christine Pike of Voorhees, N.J. and Kliber and her husband David Kliber of Mequon Wis.; nine grandchildren; brothers Merton Pike of Stowe, Vt., the Rev. Morris Pike of Shelburne, Vt. and sister Lois Hopkins of Puyallup, Wash.

Services will take place at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at the Third Reformed Church in Holland. Pike will be buried with military honors.