Charles Joseph “Joe” Cranny 88, of Bowling Green, Oh, passed away on Sunday, September 17. 2023 at Toledo Hospital in Toledo, OH. He was born July, 24, 1935 in Delmar, IA to Thomas Leo and Lola Ruth (Grumley) Cranny. He was raised in DeWitt, IA where he was a standout on the High School football team and earned a scholarship to attend college. He left college after a year to enter the U.S. Army, where he served stateside in the signal corps during the Korean War. Upon his honorable discharge from the Army, he was employed at J.I. Case in Davenport, IA until he met his future wife, Beverly Jean Lamb in 1958. They married on June 18, 1960 and moved to Ames, IA where Joe attended Iowa State University, earning a Bachelor’s, Masters’s, and PhD in Industrial/Organizational Psychology.
In 1966, Joe and Jean moved with three small children to Bowling, Green, OH, where Joe took a faculty position in the Psychology department at Bowling Green State University. Jean preceded him in death on April 29, 1998.
Joe served as Chair of the Psychology department at BGSU from 1988 to 1993 and then became Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, a position he held until he retired in 2000. As a recognized expert in testing, he also worked as a consulting expert witness in several court cases involving discriminatory employment practices.
In addition to his professional life, Joe enjoyed playing softball in the Bowling Green recreational leagues into his sixties. Upon his retirement, he took up golf and was a member of the Bowling Green Country Club, where he met his future wife, Peg. In the twenty years he and Peg were married they enjoyed their winters in Florida and traveling both here in the US and abroad.
Surviving are his wife, Margaret “Peg”, his son Brian (Dreama), daughter Theresa, and sister, Rose (Gene) Knutson, along with step-children Scott and David Pike and Shelly Davis and many grand and great grandchildren. He was proceeded in death by brother, Dennis and sister, Ruth.
A memorial service will be held on Thursday September 21, 2023 at 3:00 p.m. at Dunn Funeral Home, located in the Historical district of Bowling Green at 408 W. Wooster St. Visitation will be held Thursday at the funeral home from 1:00 p.m. until the time of the service at 3:00 p.m.
Memorial contributions may be given to a charity of the donor’s choice.
To share an online condolence or fond memory with the family please visit www.dunnfuneralhome.com.
