Rodman Bukeley Webb of Gainesville, Florida, and Chebeague Island, Maine, died on Tuesday, July 18, 2023, after a brave and painful battle of almost five decades against an uncommon liver disease.
Rod was the son of the late Jean Francis and Nancy Webb of New York City. After attending Trinity Pawling School in Pawling, New York, the University of Hawaiʻi, and Boston University, he obtained his doctorate from Rutgers University. In the early 1970s, Rod began a long career as an admired professor and mentor in the College of Education at the University of Florida, where he also served as Director of the Research and Development Center for School Improvement and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. When he retired from the University, his colleagues celebrated him as a consummate scholar, an international expert in the fields of sociology of education and qualitative research methods, and an educator who always prioritized the welfare and growth of his students.
Rod was a singular and deeply kind man. He was inherently funny, self-effacing, and thoughtful, a powerfully committed educator, and an endless student of the world. He was a voraciously curious deep thinker and writer. He was a person who possessed a deep sense of morality as well as an ability to laugh at himself and find humor even in hardship. Rod was a caring friend who made those around him feel seen, heard, respected, and safe. He was a loving and endlessly supportive father to his daughters, Laurie and Lindsey, and a dependable and compassionate father figure to many others in his life. Rod was devoted to his wife of almost 60 years, Elise, who was his soulmate and partner in adventures from Waimanalo, Hawaiʻi, to Chebeague Island, Maine, and beyond. In retirement, he became a masterful cook and woodworker who created incredible meals and beautiful furniture, along with lovely gardens, walkways, and fountains around his home. In all aspects of his life, Rod made the world better and more beautiful because he was in it.
A proud and devoted family man, Rod is survived by his wife, Elise Turrell Webb, by daughter Lindsey Webb and her husband Clay Samford of Denver, Colorado, by daughter Laurie Webb and her husband Whitfield Hall of Wilmington, North Carolina, by grandsons Elijah and Ben Samford and Micah and Gray Hall, by three brothers, nine nieces and nephews, ten great-nieces and nephews, and one great-great nephew, and many other family and friends who all loved and were loved by Rod. He was predeceased by his parents, Jean and Nancy; his nephew Tad Webb; his brother-in-law George Turrell and his sister-in-law Barbara Turrell Adams; his mother and father-in-law, Elise and George Turrell; along with close friends. His family can only imagine the laughter and stories being exchanged at their reunion. For those of us now separated from him, Rod is profoundly missed.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to The Recompense Fund , https://www.recompensefund.com/make-a-donation , on Chebeague Island, Maine, or PSC Partners, https://app.etapestry.com/hosted/PSCPartnersSeekingaCure/OnlineDonation.html , an organization seeking a cure for primary sclerosing cholangitis.