Mac F. Given ’77

Mac F. Given ’77, of Storrs, Conn.; Sept. 26, 2021, of brain cancer. He taught chemistry at Friends Central School before pursuing his PhD in biology at UConn. He taught for two years at Providence College, then moved to Media, Pa., in 1990 to be a professor of biology and dean of arts and sciences at Neumann University. He retired in 2020 as professor emeritus. During his tenure, he published 13 peer-reviewed research articles, primarily on communication dynamics in populations of carpenter frogs, Fowler’s toads, and pickerel frogs. He served as an officer in the international Herpetologists League, was a peer-reviewer for professional journals, and regularly attended herpetology and animal behavior conferences. He was a frequent speaker on natural history topics for schools and organizations in the Philadelphia area, including the Delaware County Institute of Science. His most-requested topics involved his research into frog communication and his work in environmental education in Guatemala. He rediscovered his love of jazz clarinet while living in Guatemala in 2006 and over the next 15 years played with ensembles ranging from town bands to community bands near his home, playing clarinet every year at town events alongside his son. He was an active volunteer in a wide range of community institutions. He enjoyed  hiking, kayaking, and caring for his own five-acre forest before being diagnosed with extensive metastatic melanoma in June 2021. He is survived by his wife, Barbara; a son; a brother; and several nieces and nephews.