The Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders is saddened to report the passing of Dr Floyd Emanuel at the age of 89.

Dr Emanuel dedicated his life to the education of students in communication and speech-language pathology.  After receiving his MA in speech pathology at the University of New Mexico, Dr Emanuel served in the US Navy as a communications officer on the USS Hamner, deployed to the South China Sea.  After his discharge, he returned to the state of his birth and earned his doctorate from the University of Oklahoma.

He joined the faculty of the Department of CSD after graduation and, in 1967, became the first full-time coordinator of the OUHSC cleft palate clinic.  He grew this clinic from a caseload of 40 patients to over 300, and led the recruitment of a multidisciplinary team that continues to provide services to patients with craniofacial anomalies today.

Over his decades of service to the OUHSC, Dr Emanuel was recognized as an outstanding teacher and scholar, receiving numerous teaching awards and directing eighteen PhD student dissertations.  He authored or co-authored more than thirty research papers and gave numerous invited presentations based on his scientific and clinical work.  He was elected as a Fellow of the American Speech and Hearing Association in 1973.  In 2009, he was inducted to the Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame. 

Dr Emanuel’s legacy lives on in the Department of CSD through his outstanding training of students in speech science who now serve patients across the United States and around the world.  In addition, his presence is still felt in the thriving John W Keys Speech and Hearing Clinic Cleft Palate / Craniofacial Clinic, which continues to bring together speech and hearing professionals, physicians, dentists and dental surgeons, plastic surgeons, patient advocates, and other professionals to provide a comprehensive and multidisciplinary cleft program unique in this region.  The steady operation and remarkable growth of this clinic from 1959 to the present day owe much to Dr Emanuel’s stewardship.

At his family’s request, donations in Dr Emanuel’s memory can be made to the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association.