Donald F Harden

Donald F. Harden, Ph.D. — September 3, 1934 - March 28, 2024

Donald F. Harden died on March 28, 2024, in Naples, Florida hospice in the company of his wife, Phyllis, and children. He leaves behind family and friends in Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, and in Bonita Springs, Florida, where he and Phyllis wintered for many years.

Don was born on September 3, 1934, in Grinnell, Iowa, the son of Edgar Laurence and Elizabeth (Craver) Harden. His father’s teaching and administration career took the family to East Lansing, Michigan where Don graduated from high school and Michigan State University. Dinner table conversations with his parents about educational values and challenges inspired and informed Don throughout his own career as an administrator in higher education in Wisconsin and Michigan.

Don earned baccalaureate, master’s, and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Michigan State University, served as a B47 navigator in the U.S. Air Force (1956-1960), and was Student Services Dean at Alma College. His longest tenure was at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay where he served as Associate Chancellor, Acting Chancellor, and other leadership positions. Following retirement from the UW System, he became President of Bellin Health’s Bellin Foundation in Green Bay.

The institutions and other communities Don served were strengthened by his organizational leadership and consummate fundraising skills. He improved the educational, health care and economic environments where he worked by fostering strong teams; securing millions of dollars in philanthropic support for organizations and projects and nurturing creative public-private partnerships. Along with the university’s educational and cultural programs and Bellin Health’s hospital, Wisconsin beneficiaries of his leadership included the Green Bay Packers and the university’s athletic programs.

Don’s engagement with sports ranged from participation as a student athlete during his high school years and being an enthusiastic golfer who played well into his 80s, to aiding in the evolution of two significant athletic programs of the Green Bay region. In the early 1980s, Don piloted UW-Green Bay’s move from Division II to NCAA Division I athletics. In the mid-1980s he was selected for membership on the Board of Director’s Executive Committee of the Green Bay Packers NFL football organizations. His two decade-long Executive Committee appointment coincided with Board’s planning and work on major redevelopment of the franchise’s Lambeau Field.

Don said often that he lived by the words of his beloved grandmother, Molly Harden, who always reminded him to have a little fun every day. Don’s friends and associates were invited to join him in that fun, and those who were fortunate to work with Don over the years knew him as a nurturing leader who supported and encouraged his staff members, while also reminding them to have a little fun every day.

Don is survived by his wife, Phyllis Jorissen Harden; son Edgar L. Harden and wife (Pam Noe Harden) of East Lansing, Michigan; daughter Betsy Benjamin and husband (Eugene Benjamin) of Bloomington, Illinois; grandchildren Alexandra B. Schaefer (Drew Schaefer) and Preston W. Boge (Mary Bogdanski Boge) great granddaughter Blair Marie Boge; sister, Pamela Nyquist, and nieces Nancy Nyquist and Minda Nyquist.

Private burial will be at the Harden family plot in Evergreen Cemetery, East Lansing, Michigan. A Celebration of Life event will be announced at a later date.

Memorial gifts may be made to the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay: Dr. Donald F. and Phyllis J. Harden Endowed Scholarship, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, 2420 Nicolet Drive, CL805, Green Bay, WI 54311.