Dr. Neal Malicky: Quality Education with a Personal Touch
- Jack Bowerman
- Sep 30
- 6 min read
Neal Malicky was born September 14, 1934, in Sour Lake, Texas, to George and Ethel Lucille Reed Malicky. Neal’s father, George, was born in 1905 near Barneston, Nebraska. He excelled in football and baseball while in school. He began playing professional baseball in 1926 with the minor league Class D Marshalltown, Iowa Ansons. George played later that year with the Class A Omaha Buffaloes and by 1930 had moved on to play with the Class A San Antonio Indians in the Texas League. In his last year, he played for the Class A Beaumont Exporters and the Class B Evansville Habs. 1929 was his best year for ball; he led the Blue Ridge League, where he played for the Martinsburg Athletics (an affiliate of the major league Philadelphia Athletics), with a record of 18 wins to 10 losses
After his playing career, he returned to Barneston, where he met and married Neal’s mother, Ethel, in 1932. Ethel was born in 1909 near Wymore, Nebraska. She attended school in Beatrice, Nebraska, and graduated from Peru State Teachers College and Iowa State University with a degree in home economics and a teaching certificate. She was teaching in the Barneston schools when she met George. In 1934, George and Ethel moved to Texas, where Gulf Oil offered him an opportunity to work for them as an assistant engineer and manager of the ball club. George and Ethel’s three children, Georgann, Neal, and Lillian, were all born in Texas, and the family moved to Baldwin in 1948. George found work as a pipefitter, and Ethel became a home economics teacher at Baldwin High School.
Upon his arrival in Baldwin, Neal enrolled at Baldwin High School and promptly became actively engaged in various school activities. In his senior year, he focused on basketball as well as track, became President of the Student Council, and Vice President of the Honor Society. He was on the Annual Staff and a member of the Mixed Ensemble Quartet and the Class Play.
After graduation, Neal chose to attend Baker University and Joined Delta Tau Delta. In his senior year, he was President of the Student Commission, participated on the Track team, and sang in the Choir. While at Baker, he served the broader community as well. From the Ottawa Herald, “Neal Malicky, a talented young student from Baldwin, talked and showed slides Sunday morning at the young people’s department at the Methodist church on his experiences in Europe this summer.” He graduated in 1956 and left Baker for a time, but the University was never far from his mind, and he returned several times in different roles.
Neal married fellow Baker graduate Margaret W. “Margi” Wilson on September 2, 1956. Margi grew up in Wichita and became a member of Delta Delta Delta sorority. She received a BS degree in biology from Baker and later earned a certificate in medical technology from Wesley Health Center in Wichita.
After Baker, Neal attended Southern Methodist University, where he received a Master of Divinity degree in 1959. Neal was a Methodist Pastor for three years in Kansas before he and Margi moved to New York. He served as a Methodist pastor in Peekskill, NY, while completing his Ph.D. in International Relations at Columbia University. Also, during this time, Neal served as a Methodist Pastor and taught for the United Nations. The UN provided a semester of study through Drew University, where Neal taught. This gave an opportunity for students from 70 other colleges to study the world scene. He did additional studies at Harvard.
It was during this time that Neal and Margi’s three children were born: Michael Neal (born in 1960 in Iola, Kansas 1960), Eric Scott (born in 1963 in Iola), and David Matthew (born in 1966 in Marysville, Kansas)
In 1969, Neal returned to Baker as Dean of the College and Professor of Political Science. In the 1973-74 academic year, he took on the added responsibility of Acting President during a time of transition from the outgoing Rev. Dr. James Doty to the new President, Dr. Jerald C. Walker.
In 1975, Neal left Baker to become the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College at Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio. In doing so, Neal made a connection to Baker’s distant past. Baldwin-Wallace College (now Baldwin Wallace University) was created in 1913 by the merger of Baldwin University and German Wallace College. The predecessor of both schools was Baldwin Institute, which was established in 1845 by Methodist businessman John Baldwin. Bishop Osmon Cleander Baker, after whom Baker University is named, urged Baldwin to go to Kansas, thinking that he might be able to help establish the University and the community that was to be built around it. Arriving in Palmyra in 1857, Baldwin at once set out to build a mill that would grind corn and wheat near the intersection of what is now 5th and Indiana streets. The townspeople in the burgeoning community were so excited that Baldwin had come and was engaged in helping to build the new town that they named the town after him. In 1858, Baldwin’s son, Milton, was named as the principal of the preparatory department of the University that was being created. However, after spending only four months in Kansas, Milton died. John Baldwin was so despondent after his son’s death that he left Kansas, never to return. The first day of school at Baker, under the leadership of President Dr. Werter Davis, was a few months later, in November 1958.
Upon arriving at B-W, Neal enjoyed his work because it was an opportunity to concentrate on academics. In 1981, Neal was named President of B-W. During his presidency, Neal increased faculty salaries, oversaw numerous campus improvements, and grew the college’s endowment from $15 million to $114 million. Neal served 18 years as President, and although he had little fundraising experience, he led two successful campaigns. The Campaign for Baldwin-Wallace College (1983-86) raised more than $19.5 million on a goal of $15 million. The Campaign for the 21st Century (1993-98) was another success with more than $55 million raised against a goal of $44 million. He coined the new college motto, "Quality Education with a Personal Touch", and
focused faculty to teach over publishing or scholarly work.[1]
Neal worked hard to prepare B-W students to be as successful as they can be. He said that: “The only thing that we can be sure of in the coming years is that this will be a century of dramatic and rapid changes like the latter half of the 20th century has been.” He advised students to “Get a broad education. The liberal arts are liberating; they liberate us from ignorance, free us from prejudice, and open us up to be able to change in a rapidly changing society. In the future, the ability to keep learning can carry you through.”
In 1996, he was the recipient of the Humanitarian Award of the National Conference for Community and Justice. In accepting the award, he said: “American society will become increasingly diverse in the next century, and we must go beyond shallow rationalizations if we are to provide full opportunity for each and justice for all. . . . . Let us pledge to ourselves and to each other that we will generate the conviction to eliminate the prejudices that are within us, thus enhancing our own humanity. And let us muster the courage to help overcome the obstacles to justice and equality that are present in our society, thus enriching the lives and opportunities of others and fulfilling the dream for America. There is no higher commitment for people of faith and conviction, no greater challenge for Americans, no finer opportunity to fulfill our calling as children of God."
Upon his retirement as President in 1999, B-W awarded him a Doctor of Humane Letters, and in recognition of his leadership, he was named President Emeritus and Chancellor. The Neal Malicky Center for the Social Sciences at Baldwin Wallace was named in his honor in 2001.
After leaving B-W, he served as an adjunct professor in the Graduate School at Kent State University, teaching courses in leadership in higher education. He also served as an independent director for Strong Capital Management and actively volunteered with various educational and civic associations in the greater Cleveland area.
Margi was very active as the first lady of B-W when Neal was President and hosted numerous receptions, dinners, and gatherings. She died after a long illness in 2013, just shy of their 57thwedding anniversary.
Neal became a valued member of the Baker Board of Trustees and served for a number of years before his death in 2024. From his obituary: “He was recognized widely for his personal warmth and inspirational leadership that helped B-W to expand its undergraduate and graduate programs, increase its undergraduate enrollment to 4,500 students, and transform its campus through the renovation of established facilities and the construction of new ones. His vision of “Quality Education with a Personal Touch” remained a guiding principle throughout his career. He successfully led two fundraising campaigns, with each setting a higher standard for B-W. Beyond his administrative abilities, he was a relationship-builder who touched thousands of lives, consistently inspiring individuals to achieve their best. Students said that they believed he knew each one by their first name. He championed diversity and inclusion, receiving the 1996 Humanitarian Award from the National Conference for Community and Justice.”
We honor him for his many contributions to Baker.
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