This page is no longer being updated and remains online for informational and historical purposes only. The information is accurate as of the last page update.
For questions about page contents, contact the Communications Division.
Lafayette Alumni News, July 1998 – David A. Portlock, 55, associate dean of the College, died Sunday, May 5, in Easton Hospital after a long battle with cancer.
In more than 26 years at Lafayette, he established a number of programs and organizations, including the Association of Black Collegians, the Black Cultural Center, and the Black Children Can, College Bound, and PREP programs.
Born Jan. 29, 1941, in Allentown, Pa., he was a son of the late Harry A. and Gladys Carter Portlock.
A 1958 graduate of Allentown High School, he received a B.S. degree from Cheyney State College in 1962 and an M.E. from Millersville State College in 1968. He also received secondary school principal certification from Lehigh University.
He began his academic career in 1962, as an industrial arts teacher in the Virgin Islands, and taught industrial arts at Easton Area High School from 1963 to 1970.
In 1968 he was appointed part-time consultant to Lafayette’s dean of students. He was appointed full-time assistant dean of students in 1970 and assistant dean of academics in 1975.
He organized and chaired the College and Community advisory committee in 1968, helped found and chair a Pennsylvania State Education Association urban affairs and human relations committee in 1969 and served on evaluation teams for the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools in 1984 and 1990. He also served on the boards of directors for the Children’s Home of Easton and ProJeCt of Easton, a human services agency.
He was a member of First Presbyterian Church, Easton.
Survivors include his wife, Anne Neyhart Portlock; sons David A. Jr. ’88, Scott A., and Marc D.; and daughter Laura E. ’97.