Wall, Hugo (1901-1975)

Wichita Eagle obituary: 1975 Dec 8 p. 4A

Birth date:

Text of obituary:

Hugo Wall, 74, Civics Professor, Dies in Wichita

Dr. Hugo Wall, a nationally known political scientist and former vice president of Wichita State University, died Sunday at the age of 74 in a Wichita nursing home.

He had been a professor of urban affairs who believed his contribution should not end at the classroom door but extend actively into the city government under which he lived.

Dr. Clark Ahlberg, president of WSU, said there are not many academicians who have contributed more to a city than Wall did to Wichita.

His guidance is evident in the city's personnel system, public works and purchasing departments and elsewhere, Ahlberg said.

Among Wall's many distinguished titles of a long career are WSU vice president for academic affairs, dean of the graduate school and director of the university's Center for Urban Affairs.

A fellowship in graduate-level urban studies was established in his honor when he retired in 1971 to recognize and ensure perpetuation of the work he did.

Services are pending. He is survived by his wife, Dora Kliewer Wall, who lived with him in an apartment at the nursing home, 1301 N. West. She has been hospitalized for tests for several days.

Wall has two children, Mrs. Cy Cochran of Stockton, Calif., and John K. Wall of Malibu, Calif.

Ahlberg knew Wall both as an associate and a professor. "I am one of those who considers himself 'one of Hugo's boys'," Ahlberg said.

He said he never knew a better teacher nor a person better at inspiring students. Wall came to Wichita in 1929 from Stanford, with a few years' experience as a junior high and grammar school principal and a Stanford instructor. But he was a Kansan, born in Inman. He attended Bethel College in North Newton two years before he went to Stanford.

Through the years he served on numerous local, state and national government boards. He was a member of the Kansas Constitutional Revision Commission and chairman of its Committee on Local Government.

He served as a representative on the city's personnel advisory board for four years. He also served as associate director of a special program for Kansas under the federal Higher Education Act of 1965.

He wrote "Introduction to Citizenship," a textbook used by beginning political science students, and various manuals for the City of Wichita.

His retreat from the world of public administration was into the garden. He was recognized as a top authority on the subject of irises, and he developed many unusual and rare species in his large family garden.

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