Mel Shanks passes away

By Brittany Hackett | bhackett@flagler.edu

Graphic Design professor Mel Shanks passed away on Feb. 16.

According to Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs Yvan Kelly, Shanks had a fatal heart attack while driving home from the Orlando airport.

Kelly said the loss of Shanks is more personal to the college and the students he taught.

“Of course losing a graphic designer of his quality and his experience is a loss for the students,” Kelly said. “But the bigger loss to the students is that this was someone who was pushing them, guiding them through the process.”

Kelly said Shanks requested in his will that a large party be thrown in his honor rather than a funeral.

“He really wanted people to remember him as he lived, which was live life to the fullest,” Kelly said.

Shanks had a master’s of fine arts in graphic design from Radford University and began teaching at Flagler in August 2006. According to his resume, Shanks said his approach to teaching was “simple and straightforward.”

An upbeat memorial service is being planned by the college, Kelly said, but a specific date has not been set.