Memorial services will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 7, for Ray Russell Canning, 73, retired University of Utah professor who died Thursday, May 5, 1994, in a Salt Lake hospital of a blood disorder.

The service will be at Wasatch Lawn Mortuary Chapel, 3401 S. Highland Drive.Mr. Canning, who also taught sociology and some history classes for 13 years at Brigham Young University before becoming director of the U. Summer School in 1959, had been ill for three years but was able to continue most of his activities until about two weeks ago.

He was born in Osmond, Wyo., and received a bachelor's degree from Utah State Agricultural College and master's and doctorate degrees in sociology from the University of Utah.

His teaching career spanned 39 years during which time he received the Distinguished Teaching Award in 1971 from the U. and the University Professor Award in 1980-1981. For a number of years, he received the Professor of the Year Award in the U. Sociology Department.

In teaching and research, Canning specialized in social psychology and mental health. He was director from 1962 to 1969 of the Utah Training Center for Prevention and Control of Juvenile Delinquency and director at the U. from 1981 to 1983 of the Utah Plan for Liberal Education. He was a veteran of World War II, including service in France and Germany, and received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart with three oakleaf clusters.

Mr. Canning's wife, Lois, said her husband decided many years ago to donate his body for medical research to the U. Medical School.

"Ray loved the U. of U., where he had many happy years of teaching students and working with fine faculty members," said Lois Canning, a retired Granite School District educator.

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