Berthold D. Willenbrock, ex-Farmingdale State College dean, dies at 97

Berthold Daniel Willenbrock believed in second chances and, as dean of students at Farmingdale State College, encouraged generations to take advantage of their potential.

Willenbrock died of pneumonia Nov. 4 at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center, his family said. He was 97.

"People always adopted him as a grandfather because he was such a warm person," said a daughter, Carol Willenbrock of Thiensville, Wis. "He would always try to find the good in something."

Born in Mount Vernon, N.Y., Willenbrock developed an early passion for reading. It was a habit he would continue late in life, after macular degeneration deprived him of seeing the words, by listening to books on tape, she said.

Willenbrock graduated from Roosevelt High School in Yonkers in 1933 and enrolled at Colgate University in Hamilton.

When he met his wife, Jean Allan of Valhalla, at Truesdale Lake in South Salem, N.Y., it was love at first sight, the family said. The pair wed in 1938 -- the year after Willenbrock graduated with a bachelor's degree in English -- and remained married for 72 years until her death in 2010.

Willenbrock worked in Brooklyn delivering blocks of ice until he landed a teaching job at a local school for the deaf. The couple moved to Patchogue, where Willenbrock taught English at Patchogue High School from 1941 to 1950, Carol Willenbrock said.

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He served in the Army from 1944 to 1946 as a medical department officer, and he counseled the injured.

Willenbrock earned a master's in counseling from Columbia University in the 1950s.

Willenbrock worked at Farmingdale State College for 25 years before retiring in 1974. He was instrumental in the early 1960s in setting up "a pipeline" for minority students from New York City to attend college, said a son, Paul Willenbrock, of Beverly, Mass.

"He was making sure that they were treated fairly by the college and also by the town," he said, recalling his father "coming home very unhappy one day because the barbershop in Farmingdale would not give black students haircuts . . . he went into the barbershop . . . and straightened them out."

Raymón Rodriguez, of East Walpole, Mass., who worked as an assistant dean of students, said patience was another of Willenbrock's traits. "He was the type of person to give a student a second chance to improve themselves," Rodriguez said. "He would say . . . 'I think that every student can be saved.' "

When he was not working with students, Willenbrock enjoyed swimming, tennis and playing bridge.

"He engaged everybody," said Terence White, 67, of Atlanta, who grew up with the family and worked with Willenbrock as a veterans counselor. "Counseling was the greatest way for him to express that love of people."In addition to his daughter and son, Willenbrock is survived by a daughter, Jean Marie Bogiages of San Francisco; four grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by siblings Annamarie Morely of Los Angeles, Dorothy Lehr of Helena, Mont., and Frederick Karl Willenbrock of Reston, Va.

Relatives plan to hold a memorial service Dec. 23 in Thiensville, Wis.Donations in Willenbrock's name may be made to the Farmingdale College Foundation, 2350 Broad Hollow Road, Farmingdale, N.Y. 11735.