DONALD MALETZ

Donald J. Maletz, 78, of Penn Lake Park, passed away on Thursday, August 31, 2023 at Smith Health Care in Mountain Top.

Born in Harrisburg, he was the son of the late Joseph and Martha Leedle Maletz. His early life was spent in Philadelphia, but the family moved to Allentown, and he graduated from Parkland High School. He graduated from Princeton University in 1967 with a major in religious studies and worked briefly as a newspaper reporter before earning a PhD in government from Cornell University. He also spent a year at the University of Heidelberg and later spent several months at the Technical University of Berlin. From 1974 until retirement in 2016 he taught first at Boston College and then for 37 years at the University of Oklahoma. His publications focused on the works of Alexis de Tocqueville and G.W.F. Hegel, as well as various themes in American politics. The university provided graduate programs in public administration for Air Force personnel, and during summers, Don frequently taught courses in ethics at various bases throughout Japan, Korea, Hawaii, the continental United States and Europe. Don enjoyed classical music, especially Bach’s cello suites, travel in Europe and the Oklahoma Sooners. Most of all he loved his family, especially dinner table conversations with his children and grandchildren. He was a great dad and a beloved granddad. He attended nearly every game his kids played in, irrespective of the Oklahoma summers, taught them all to love reading, and celebrated their successes as they graduated, started careers, and began their own families. An enduring memory o Don will be of him sitting on the front porch in his redwood rocking chair, wearing a tweed sport coat, reading a Winston Churchill history, while the kids played in the front yard.

Left to cherish his memory are his loving wife, Maryanne Brasuell Maletz; children, Elizabeth (Jean Cedric de Foy) Maletz of Brooklyn, Christopher (Estelle) Maletz of Alexandria, VA, Andrew (Deborah) Maletz of Annandale, VA; eight grandchildren, Lucien, Thomas, Anne, Pauline, Claire, Eliana, Samuel and Joseph; siblings, William of Ponte Vedra Beach, FL; Ruth Maletz of Bethlehem; numerous nieces and nephews.

A private funeral service will be held in St. John's Lutheran Church, Belleville, with interment in Belleville Cemetery. Friends and family who wish to make a memorial donation are invited to consider St. Paul’s Lutheran Church of White Haven or the White Haven Area Community Library.

Arrangements under the direction of the Lehman Family Funeral Service, Inc. 403 Berwick Street, White Haven.

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