Joseph B. Laine Ph.D., 88, of Oshkosh, WI, died Thursday, January 3, 2013, at Evergreen Retirement Community in Oshkosh.

Laine joined the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh’s Communication Department in 1962, serving as professor and chair for 26 years after previously serving as an instructor at the University of South Dakota and instructor and debate coach at Marquette University. He retired from UW Oshkosh in 1989.

A mass will be celebrated for Dr. Laine on Saturday, Jan. 5, at 10:30 a.m. at St. Raphael Catholic Church, 830 S. Westhaven Dr., Oshkosh. A visitation will be held Saturday prior to the service at the church at 9:30 a.m. Burial will take place at Calvary Catholic Cemetery following a luncheon at St. Raphael.

Laine was a long-serving and dedicated faculty member in the UW Oshkosh Department of Communication. As the number and variety of communication degrees grew under his tenure as “Speech Department” chair in the 1960s and 1970s, so did the services provided through special hearing clinics within the department – clinics that annually served hundreds of Wisconsin residents, including referrals from physicians and UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee, according to archival records. He also served as a president of the Wisconsin Speech Communication Association.

The “Joseph B. Laine Outstanding Senior In Speech Communication Award” continues to, in his honor, recognize “Speech Communication and Speech Education majors with senior standing who have accrued an overall minimum GPA of 3.0” and who have achieved “academic excellence, involvement in extracurricular activities (with primary emphasis on communication-related activities) and demonstrated leadership.”

Laine himself was an active community volunteering, donating his time and talents to several charitable organizations in the Oshkosh area. His family has asked that any memorial gifts honoring him be sent to St. Vincent DePaul, Father Carr’s Place 2 Be or the Epilepsy Foundation.”

Laine’s full obituary can be found at the Oshkosh Northwestern.