Joseph Lee Rodgers, Jr.

Joseph Lee Rodgers Jr. (Lee), David Ross Boyd distinguished professor emeritus at the University of Oklahoma, died on December 16, 2016, three days before his 93rd birthday. Lee was born in Hugo, OK on December 19, 1923 to Joseph Lee Rodgers Sr. and Wilma Mae Wickizer Rodgers. Lee grew up in Hugo, graduated from El Reno High School in 1941, and then attended the University of Oklahoma to study Civil Engineering. A Greatest Generation veteran, he served in the Navy during World War II, managing radar components of aviation simulators.

After the war, he returned to Norman and completed his engineering degree, then entered the new OU Masters program in Regional and City Planning. He was the first graduate of the program, and then served RCPL as faculty and chair for over 35 years, retiring in 1985 as David Ross Boyd Distinguished Professor and an inaugural fellow of American Institute of Certified Planners.

During college, he was active in the Wesley Foundation, where he met Mary Joyce Norwood from Davidson OK. They married on April 9, 1948 in McFarlin Memorial Methodist Church. They had four children who were born between 1953 and 1960. In the early 1960’s, they bought an acreage in the middle of Norman. He developed the property and built a house on Merrywood Lane, where he and Mary Joyce raised their children, and lived for the rest of their lives. Lee was deeply committed to his family, as son, brother, husband, father, uncle, grandfather, and great-grandfather.

Lee was widely regarded as the early architect of community planning in Oklahoma. He had outstanding technical civil engineering skills, but more importantly he was devoted to students in the RCPL program and to the citizens in the cities he helped design. His graduates became planning directors in LA, Atlanta, Orlando, Little Rock, Kansas City, Berkeley, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, and Norman, among many others. He wrote master plans for Oklahoma City, Lawton, Midwest City, and dozens of other Oklahoma towns, and authored both local and state planning legislation and zoning ordinances. In 1966 he wrote the OU University Plan, which served as OU’s basic planning document for two decades. He authored two influential planning books, one on community organizations, another on environmental impact and comprehensive planning. In retirement, he turned his attention to serving his community. His leadership led to the creation of the Norman Area Land Conservancy and the Norman Greenbelt Commission. Lee also managed the family wheat/cotton farms in Tillman County and a pecan orchard in Merrywood, where he and family picked and shelled pecans from 20+ trees.

Lee’s passions were his family, city planning, story-telling, tending his yard, environmental causes, energy conservation, farming, the Democratic party, the serious study of Christianity, and all things OU. He had OU football and basketball tickets for 75 years, and seldom missed a game. With a lifelong devotion to sports, he was an excellent tennis player into his 60’s, including many sets of family doubles with his four children. He played golf with similar passion, hitting a hole-in-one at Broadmoore the week he turned 70.

Lee’s maternal grandfather was a Disciples of Christ minister, his father was in the Gilbert Smith Bible class that recruited the money to build McFarlin Memorial Methodist Church in 1924, and his mother was a professional church administrator. Lee and Mary Joyce were devoted members of McFarlin for over 70 years. They taught a young married couples Sunday School Class from the 1950’s to the 1970’s, he served multiple terms as chair of the Board of Trustees, and he played a key role in the 2000 church addition that almost doubled its size.

Lee was preceded in death by his parents J. Lee and Wilma, wife Mary Joyce, brother William Paul, and son Rob. He is survived by his children and their spouses, Joe Lee Rodgers and Jacci of Nashville TN, Mary Ellen Bundren and Clark of Tulsa, Larry Rodgers and Susan of Corvallis, OR; eight grandchildren, Rachel Rodgers of Paris, France, Naomi Rodgers of Baltimore MD, Johnathan Bundren and Lauren of Jenks, Michelle Bundren and fiancé James Teeter of Ft. Worth TX, Kara Bundren of Oklahoma City, and Samuel, Margaret, and Benjamin Rodgers of Eugene OR; two great grandchildren, Jackson and Claire Bundren of Jenks; one brother, David, of Shaker Heights OH; special friend Jane Anderson of Norman; and many friends and extended family throughout the world who join to mourn his passing and to celebrate a life well lived.

A memorial service will be held at McFarlin Memorial United Methodist Church in Norman on Wednesday, January 4, 2017, at 1:00, followed by a reception in the McFarlin atrium. Memorial contributions may be sent to the Rodgers Memorial Fund at McFarlin, or to the Norman Area Land Conservancy/Norman Greenbelt Commission.