Professor Emeritus Donovan J. Ochs died January 18, 2012, at home. He was a member and former chair of the Department of Rhetoric in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at the University of Iowa, with a joint-appointment in the CLAS Department of Communication Studies. He served on the UI faculty from 1967 until his retirement in 1995. He served CLAS and the UI vigorously and with great integrity on numerous committees, and was also prominent in the regional and national associations that promoted and developed the study of rhetoric and public speaking. He was an active member of the Iowa Communication Association and served on a number of their committees, as well as a co-editor of The Iowa Journal of Communication. As a member of the Central States Speech Association, he edited its journal and later served as President in 1982-1983. He was also a member of the Speech Communication Association and served on many of its national committees.

Professor Ochs was born October 2, 1938, in Charles City, Iowa, to Joseph and Ardith (Hagarty) Ochs. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Loras College and his Master of Arts and doctoral degrees from the University of Iowa. He married Joan Walsh on January 27, 1962.

He taught both at the college and high-school level and also at the U.S. Army Base at Fort Leonardwood, Missouri, before moving to the University of California, Davis; the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana; and finally back to the University of Iowa. For four years after retiring he taught short courses for the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center in the UI Henry B. Tippie College of Business.

During his academic career he wrote nine books; published over a hundred book chapters, reviews, and journal articles; and presented numerous professional papers. He directed over two dozen students in their doctoral dissertation work. In 1993 he was awarded the University of Iowa CLAS Collegiate Teaching Award.

Throughout his life he was an outdoorsman—fishing, hunting, and gardening were his major interests – but he was also a community icon in Solon, famous for the benign terror that he inspired in local children with his Halloween displays. After his retirement he was a volunteer on a number of community projects such as the Solon Community in Action Committee, the Solon Library Building Campaign, and the Solon Library Board of Trustees.

He was "one-of-a-kind," and all who met him have their favorite stories about his kindness, his integrity, his impish sense of humor, his loyalty, his strong and principled approach to life, and his devotion to students, pedagogy, and the advancement of good speaking. Several of his books are still regarded as key rhetorical texts and the discipline—as well as his many friends, colleagues, and students—will never forget his remarkable contribution to their lives.

He is survived by his wife, Joan Ochs, daughter Cindi Ochs, daughter Michelle (William) Kinney, son Daniel (Karen) Ochs, and five grandchildren.