Patrick Leo Mayers January 1, 1940-June 14, 2026.

Pat was raised in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, the youngest son of two academics, Freddie & Ben. Pat was a true Renaissance man with a brilliant mind, playful spirit, broad smile, and a gleam in his eyes. He loved his family and friends (although he had no patience with bullies and did not suffer fools gladly).

Pat greeted life, always in the moment, with a rare mindfulness, and yet he was intense about all he did and deliberate about the choices he made. He was an iconoclast and independent thinker, if everyone else turned right, Pat turned left. This curiosity led him from one question to another where he often asked, of daily encounters, "How could that be?" and "Isn't that amazing?" An enthusiastic and lifelong learner Pat spent his youth reading, drawing, competing as a swimmer, diver, gymnast, orienteering in the woods, playing guitar, chess, and the ancient Chinese game of Go. He attended Hyde Park High School and Shimer College before boarding a ship at age 17 to travel solo to Europe, and later Cuba, becoming proficient in German, French, and Spanish along the way. As a young adult, Pat, an admirer of educator John Dewey's experiential learning model, taught high school math, joined Outward Bound's Leadership Program, worked as a social worker, and was a Resident Head of Shorey House in the Pierce Tower dormitory at the University of Chicago in the 1970s. Pat delighted in the DIY movement exemplified by the Whole Earth Catalog and taught himself to make kayaks, clothes and down coats, toys, musical instruments, and hang-gliders out of bamboo, duct tape, and plastic sheeting. He loved to paint watercolor landscapes of the dunes with his former Scoutmaster and closest friend, the artist and Save the Dunes Council conservationist, John Hawkinson, who encouraged Pat to write two published children's books Just One More Block and Lost Bear, Found Bear.

Before joining Keller Graduate School of Management and DeVry University as Vice President of Academic Affairs and Academic Vice President, Pat completed his undergraduate and graduate work at the University of Chicago. He received his PhD in 1978 under the supervision of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi; his Dissertation was Flow in Adolescence and Its Relation to School Experience. In 1983, Pat and Benjamin D. Wright wrote and co published the book, Conversational Statistics in Education and Psychology. At DeVry, Pat was a driving force behind innovative academic initiatives and research aimed at student success, particularly in mathematics.

He was widely celebrated for being a remarkably kind and generous person, always eager to support his friends, students, and colleagues. In early midlife he met his beloved wife, Pamela, a teacher and writer, and had a second son, Will, for whom Pat wrote his third children's book, the little Boy with a Capital B. They explored life together with much love and laughter, traveling to visit friends, learning to sail, birdwatch, and record their life stories. Pat frequently wrote poetry and Haiku for his family and celebrated the natural wonders that surrounded them. A book Pat used as a moral guide was the I-Ching, one of the five classics of Confucianism (used also as a guide in Taoism). In later years, Pat re-learned scuba diving, which not only reflected his love of swimming and diving, but his curiosity about the beauty and mystery of life in the ocean. Pat and Pam spent many devoted years together hiking the Indiana Dunes and exploring the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Naples, Florida, where Pat became a Florida Master Naturalist. In 2023, Pat wrote his wonderful memoir entitled The Silence Around Us. Pat will be missed by all who knew and loved him.

He is survived by his loving wife, Pamela Mayers, his three children, Joshua (Jacqueline), Leah (Lauren), and William (Corinne), and three grandchildren, Benjamin, Emily, and Madeline. He is also survived by his first spouse, Barbara Wissler Mayers, the mother of Joshua and Leah. Preceded in death by his parents Friedericka Maurer Mayers, Benedict Mayers, and his brother Frederick Mayers.

Funeral services and burial are private.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Alzheimer's Association. www.alz.org, the Audubon Society, or Save the Dunes Council. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Alzheimer's Association www.alz.org the Audubon Society, or Save the Dunes Council. Home - Save the Dunes

For online guest book visit www.douglassfuneralhome.com