Dr. Lyle W. Shannon was a 1938 graduate of Sterling Township High School. During World War II he served in the United States Navy, rising to the rank of Lt. Commander. He received a B.A. in Sociology from Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa, and a M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Washington in Seattle. He taught at the University of Washington, University of Wyoming, University of Colorado, University of Wisconsin in Madison, and University of Iowa. Dr. Shannon was a Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Iowa. He was chair of the Department of Sociology at Iowa from 1962-1970. From 1970 until his retirement, Dr. Shannon was director of the Iowa Urban Community Research Center at the University of Iowa. In addition to being a teacher and administrator, Dr. Shannon published many scholarly articles and books. In the ‘50s and the ‘60s his publications dealt with the relationship of economic and social development and the political status of 200 self-governing countries and non-self-governing colonies. In 1957, his volume, "Underdeveloped Areas: A Book of Readings and Research," presaged a generation of research and publications on development and nation building. In the 1970s he studied delinquency and early adult crime. He is best known for his research on three birth cohorts from Racine, Wis., (1942, 1949, and 1955) using official police and court data. Two books represented this interest, "Criminal Career Continuity: Its Social Context" (1988) and "Alcohol and Drugs, Delinquency and Crime" (1998). In 1995, Dr. Shannon published a humorous book filled with wisdom from two cats, "Socks and Cretin: Two Democats Helping Bill with the Presidency." The book was based on correspondence between then-President Clinton’s cat, Socks, and Dr. Shannon’s cat, Cretin. After retirement, Dr. Shannon continued to have a daily presence in the Department of Sociology at the University of Iowa. He was busy writing a history of the department. He generously supported the University of Iowa Center for Criminology and Socio-legal Studies with his time and financial contributions.Dr. Shannon was born in Storm Lake, Iowa, in 1920. He passed away on December 20, 2005, at the age of 85. He is survived by four children, Mary, Susan, Robert, and John; and his brother, Herbert ’47. He was preceded in death by his wife, Magdeline; his sister, Phyllis Shannon Stroup ’41; and his brother, Myron ’44.