Kendall Owen Price, Ph.D., passed away from complications of congestive heart failure, February 15, 2016, at his home in Culver City, California. Born August 6, 1930 in Berkeley, CA, the son of Albert Henry and Margaret Owen Price, he married Beatrice Deon Nielsen in 1953, in the Logan Utah Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. After graduating from Galileo High School in San Francisco he served a 2-year mission to Eastern Canada for the LDS Church.
Dr. Price received his Ph.D. in social psychology, at the University of Michigan. Upon completion he did a two-year, post-doctoral fellowship focused on International Conflict Management at the Mental Health Research Institute also in Ann Arbor, MI. Earlier he received a Master of Public Administration from Wayne State University in Detroit and an undergraduate degree in political science from Brigham Young University, where he was student body vice president.
Between 1956 and 2007 he served on the faculty of five universities including the University of Maryland (overseas), University of Michigan, University of Southern California, Pepperdine University and California State University, Long Beach. From 1967-2014 he was the Executive Vice President, then President, of the Center for Leadership Development. Focusing on the development and research of public executives, it received major funding from the U.S. Department of Education, The Carnegie Corporation of New York, and the Rockefeller Foundation.
Dr. Price was a licensed psychologist in California and did extensive individual counseling. He served for two years as a consulting psychologist with the Los Angeles Police Department, and then served as organizational psychologist for 20 years with the Long Beach Police Department working under five Chiefs of Police. After retiring from the Long Beach PD, he was a psychological consultant on employee selection for the Security Division of the Port of Long Beach.
Throughout his life he enjoyed participating in sports and coached girls volleyball and softball. His Church service included serving in two bishoprics, producing the Santa Monica California Community Messiah Sing-In for 12 years, and teaching Sunday School courses on values for 40 years.
Most recently, he devoted himself to writing his 2013 book Becoming Yourself: Inspired by Quotations. The book is a guided study of essential skills and character traits explored through 2,500 quotations from the insights of 1,400 authors of many professions, countries and generations of wisdom. It includes tools to help one evaluate and keep track of his progress from where he is now to where he would like to be.
A devoted husband and father, he is survived by his wife of 62 years, Deon Nielsen Price, DMA; his younger brother, Albert Keith Price; five children, Lachelle Shaddy, GeriLynn Vorkink, Ph.D., Delane (Layne) Owen Price, PA-C, Bonnilee Jones, and Berkeley Allen Price, DMA; 18 grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren. His parents, Albert Henry and Margaret Owen Price, and his older sister, Patrea Jeanne Warrington, preceded him in death. Services were held Saturday, February 20, 2016, 12:00 noon at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 3400 Sawtelle Blvd., Los Angeles, CA. Interment: Hyrum (UT) City Cemetery.