Issue: Summer 2015 | Posted: June 8, 2015
Union Mourns Loss of Business Dean Absher
Winston Churchill once said there was something about the outside of a horse that was good for the inside of a man.
That’s something that Keith Absher believed. And for his friends and loved ones, it’s something they believe as well—because they saw it evidenced in Keith’s life.
Absher, dean of Union’s McAfee School of Business Administration, died March 24 at age 63 after a battle with Guillain-Barre syndrome. The Union community grieved the loss of one of the University’s key leaders and most ardent supporters.
“Keith went to college when he was 17, and he never left a college campus,” said Absher’s wife Beverly, Union’s associate vice president for auxiliary operations and chair of the continuing studies department. “He loved it. He loved students. Doing something with or for the students, having students seek his counsel, any activity that he could do with them was as exciting the day before he died as it was the first day he was able to do it.
“That was definitely his passion, and I’m glad God helped him find it at a young age.”
Outside of the classroom was where Absher pursued his other passion—horses. By the time he could sit up, he was on a horse.
“By the time he was 2 years old, he was too little to really make the horse leave home on his own, but his parents would switch it away and he would ride all through the country roads around his neighborhood,” Beverly said.
Once a year, the couple tried to get away for a nine-day trail ride—just the two of them. Absher said that trip every year was what helped him get the cobwebs out. A licensed farrier, Absher spent much of his free time outdoors working with the animals he loved.
Originally from Florence, Alabama, Absher
came to Union as dean in 2004 after serving for
many years in the management and marketing
department at the University of North Alabama.
He taught previously at Athens State University
and the University of Arkansas.
He earned his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Business Administration degrees from Jacksonville State University, another master’s degree from the University of Alabama in Huntsville and his doctorate from the University of Arkansas.
Absher played an instrumental role in the McAfee School of Business Administration earning accreditation from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business in 2013. The AACSB designation is what he described as “the gold standard” of business school accreditation, placing the McAfee School in the top 5 percent of business schools in the world.
He also served as Union’s Faculty Athletics Representative, a role mandated by the NCAA, for the past six years.
Absher was a Sunday school teacher at Englewood Baptist Church. He and Beverly have two grown children and seven grandchildren.
Hunter Martin, an accounting major from Greenfield, Tennessee, said Absher always greeted students by name when they passed him in the halls.
Dean Absher with his wife Beverly“He made every effort to build relationships with us and keep himself open to our concerns,” Martin said. “I’ll never forget the warm hospitality he and Mrs. Beverly showed each year by inviting the entire business school for a cookout and hayride at their farm. His role as a Christian business leader is one I plan to model in my future şŁ˝ÇÂŇÂ×ÉçÇř.”
Union President Samuel W. “Dub” Oliver described Absher as a capable administrator, a faithful churchman, a generous giver, a devoted husband and a loving father and grandfather.
“Because Keith was a follower of Jesus Christ, we do not grieve as those who have no hope,” Oliver said. “We know his eternal destiny is secure, and we are grateful that he is now in the presence of his Savior. We thank God for Keith’s life, legacy and commitment to Union University.”