In Memoriam: Fred McFarlane

Fred R. McFarlane, a counselor by training who became a builder of successful programs, a diverse department and a dynamic research institute during more than five decades at San Diego State University, has died. He was 78.

McFarlane, who had been in hospice care, died July 2 according to Professor Emerita Caren Sax, a friend and protege.

McFarlane, who came to SDSU in 1972 to coordinate a certificate program in rehabilitation counseling, transformed the program into a Master of Science in rehabilitation counseling. SDSU is now a leader in the field, which prepares professionals to empower people with disabilities to find rewarding careers and live independently. The rehabilitation counseling program is ranked No. 3 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report and many of its faculty are alumni who were mentored by McFarlane.  

"He was a natural mentor," Sax said. "I heard this over and over again from people who worked with Fred, and it was certainly true for me — I mean, he changed my life completely. He had that counseling gene and he was such a good listener. He tried to help build people's confidence, but he never told them what to do. Those relationships were key to everything."

Early on, rehabilitation counseling was part of SDSU's Department of Counselor Education. Seeking to more closely align it with programs focused on postsecondary outcomes, McFarlane established the new Department of Administration, Rehabilitation and Postsecondary Education (ARPE). He served as its founding department chair from 1985-99 and again from 2001-08.

As ARPE chair, McFarlane's penchant for fruitful collaboration was on display in the creation of new programs. Working alongside Professor Emeritus William Piland, he launched an Ed.D. program in community college leadership. He also teamed with the late James Kitchen, SDSU's longtime vice president of student affairs, to establish both a master's program to develop student affairs professionals and a multidisciplinary minor focused on leadership.

Building on this foundation, SDSU last year added a bachelor's program in leadership studies.

“Fred McFarlane was a truly transformational figure whose impact is hard to quantify,” said Y. Barry Chung, dean of the College of Education. “His legacy lives on not only in the excellence of the ARPE Department and its programs, but in the positive difference his work made for countless individuals.”

Another important piece of McFarlane's SDSU legacy is the establishment of the Interwork Institute, which he co-founded in 1991 with Professor Emeritus Ian Pumpian. Interwork, which focuses on integrating people with disabilities into all aspects of society, has garnered more than $200 million in external funding to support research, training, community-based programs and degree programs in Palau and other Pacific island countries.

"Fred loved people and the potential of each person," Pumpian said. "He had a deep understanding and passion for education and the power it had to foster that potential. I had the honor of partnering with Fred to create the SDSU Interwork Institute which remains one of our university's most financially successful and programmatically impactful institutions. His legacy seems to have endless energy.”

In 2002 McFarlane received an SDSU Alumni distinguished faculty award for the College of Education. In 2019 he received the National Council on Rehabilitation Education (NCRE) Distinguished Career in Rehabilitation Education Award, the top honor for a rehabilitation counselor educator.

He retired from SDSU in 2008 but continued to work on several Interwork Institute grant projects. Even after retiring from the SDSU Research Foundation in 2022, McFarlane remained a regular at the Institute’s Alvarado Road offices.

Born on July 28, 1945, in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, McFarlane earned a bachelor's in industrial education in 1967 and a master's in rehabilitation in 1968 from the University of Wisconsin-Stout, Menomonie. He completed a Ph.D. in counseling with an emphasis in rehabilitation from the University of Georgia in 1972.

Though he spent the rest of his life in warmer locales, including Hawai’i where he had a vacation home, McFarlane's heart never strayed far from America's Dairyland. He took regular pilgrimages to Lambeau Field to watch his beloved Green Bay Packers. He was also an avid golfer.

Survivors include his wife Cheryl, sons Bart and Zach, daughters Marria and Rachel, and six grandchildren.

The family suggests contributions through SDSU to the ARPE Emeriti Endowed Scholarship for Disability Research.