May 28, 2025
“Be careful what goals you set for yourself, for you may certainly attain them.” – Donald J. Carlyon
Donald J. Carlyon, the trailblazing and beloved president emeritus of Delta College who helped shape the institution from its earliest days into one of the most respected community colleges in the country, passed away on May 26 at age 100.
Carlyon retired in December 1992 after serving as Delta’s president for 28 years. But retirement did not equate to slowing down when it came to supporting the civic, cultural and educational initiatives of the Great Lakes Bay Region. His vision for Delta College and his dedication to public service were matched only by his deep affection for Delta’s students, staff and faculty.
The broad range of experiences—state policeman, Methodist minister, director of university housing, Navy cook and accounting instructor—he brought to his initial role as business manager for the college proved invaluable in getting the college operational in 1961. By 1964, he was named interim president, and in 1967, was officially appointed president—despite lacking the typical advanced degrees required for the role.
“I often referred to myself as the most uneducated person at the college,” Carlyon liked to joke, though he would go on to be recognized as an exemplary leader for community colleges across the nation.
Delta College grew from an enrollment of 1,600 students to more than 14,000 in its first 25 years. Carlyon championed academic innovation and advocated for personal and professional development of faculty and staff. Delta College was selected as a model college in Dr. B. Laman Johnson’s 1964 publication of Islands of Innovation for its use of technology in the classroom, program structure, independent lab study, year-round academic calendar (three semesters), credit by examination and more. Carlyon’s Summer Project in 1966 sent faculty around the country to gather ideas from other institutions—many of which were implemented at Delta within two years. This bold experiment helped position Delta as one of the 12 founding members of the League for Innovation in the Community College in 1968.
“When people hear the name Delta, they know they are talking to someone from an organization that’s got some pizzazz,” he once said. There’s no doubt much of that pizzazz was influenced by his charismatic nature.
But Carlyon’s influence extended well beyond the campus of Delta College.
As a life-long member of Rotary, he led efforts to save the historic State Theatre in Bay City, created a project that erected a rare statue of Rotary founder Paul Harris—one of only three in the world—and championed efforts to restore Battery Park in Bay City, even recruiting Delta College students and faculty to construct a duplicate of an original guardhouse in the park. Carlyon helped establish the Bay Commitment Scholarship, which has awarded millions to first-generation college students and he served in leadership roles with organizations including the Covenant Hospital Foundation, Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra, Saginaw General Hospital Foundation, Saginaw Valley Lung Association and many more.
Carlyon was known not just for his strategic brilliance but for his warmth, humor and curiosity. He once survived a lion bite at a ribbon-cutting for a Delta broadcast tower in Ubly, MI, hosted up to 1,800 guests annually at the Carlyon Farmhouse and could often be found tending to his llamas, sheep, Eskimo dogs and his beloved miniature donkey, EZ.
He is remembered for his favorite advice to students: “Be careful what goals you set for yourself, for you may certainly attain them.”
In 2014, Carlyon became one of only two individuals to ever receive the Delta College Award of Distinction. Though he credited the faculty and staff he empowered, saying that it never occurred to him that he may have done more than let people do what they were good at.
Carlyon shared much of his journey with his wife of 72 years, Betty (Hunley) Carlyon, until her passing in 2018. Betty was an exceptional partner in community service. She hosted countless faculty and staff gatherings and is the only person ever named an Honorary Lifetime Member of the League for Innovation.
Don Carlyon will be missed greatly, but his legacy lives on in his surviving children, grandchildren and every hall of Delta College.
