T.K. Martin, former Mississippi State vice president, dies

In more than 35 years during the university's most dramatic growth period, Martin served in the administrations of presidents Fred Tom Mitchell, Ben F. Hilbun, Dean W. Colvard, William L. Giles, and James D. McComas. He came to the university in 1949 as registrar, taking on the added responsibilities of administrative assistant to the president four years later. In 1956, he was named dean of the then-School of Education, but returned to the president's office in 1960 as executive assistant. In 1966, he was promoted to vice president.

Martin, who also was a professor of English at the university, was born in Blue Mountain in 1915.

He completed a bachelor's degree from Georgetown (Ky.) College in 1935, a master's from Louisiana State University in 1941, and a doctorate from Peabody College in Nashville in 1949. During World War II, he served as an infantry captain in the U.S. Army.

In a 1984 news account of Martin's just-announced retirement from Mississippi State, President McComas called Martin "a very unselfish man" who occupied a job that "sometimes has been tougher than being president." Former president Giles, noting that "one of the man's true gifts is his great mind," said Martin's "loyalty, insight and problem-solving abilities made my life a great deal less complicated." Former president Colvard seconded Giles, observing that Martin's actions "were always to keep the university on course with its missions and goals."

Martin is credited with many achievements during his Mississippi State career. Among the most prominent were his leadership in establishing the Cooperative Education Program in 1954 and in taking the first steps in 1973 to make the campus as accessible as possible to handicapped students.

Martin is survived by his wife, Lorene, three children, and four grandchildren.