Longtime Biology professor Dr. Harold David Maxwell will be remembered for his dedication to the University, keen intellect, passion for teaching, and kind and compassion spirit. His passing was premature and leaves a void in the Biology Department.
Dr. Maxwell taught at the University for 53 years, serving as Biology Department Chair for 14 of those years. His retirement in 2003 was only brief, returning to the classroom in 2006, where he taught Anatomy and Physiology until his passing. Many of the local physicians and physician assistants are in his debt for demanding mastery of the subject in the college classroom, which helped them succeed in their medical studies. In 2016, the Biology Department commemorated Dr. Maxwell's 50 years of service.
Dr. Maxwell touched many lives, and the Biology Department welcomes your memories and reflections about this fine gentleman.
To contribute your thoughts to this webpage, please 1) include them in the body of an email message, 2) include your first and last names, 3) type "Memorial" on the subject line, and 4) email your message to lisa.kelly@uncp.edu.
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Memories and Reflections
I loved Dave as a brother. He was not only a role model, he was one of my closest friends. He was just a fine human being. You run out of superlatives when you try to talk about Dave Maxwell. Outside his academic and research achievements, he was a tremendously intelligent person. I can remember during a seminar he would ask the program speakers questions they couldn’t answer, and these were leaders in the research field in anatomy and physiology. Dr. Andrew Ash
David Maxwell took me under his wing when I was a new faculty member. His 50+ years of experience at UNCP included a lot of mistakes that he did not want me to make, though I tried a few of them anyway. He was a curious intellectual, and he researched topics that caught his eye relentlessly until he found answers. His knowledge of physiology and anatomy was encyclopedic, and he was usually able to share what he knew in a way that didn’t make me or others feel foolish. His sense of humor and his kindness to troubled students will stay with me. Dr. Robert Poage