Ray Cuzzort, professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Colorado at Boulder, died at his home in Boulder on Monday. He was 72.
A memorial service will be held at the Old Main Chapel on campus on Tuesday, Aug. 31, starting at 11 a.m. This will be followed by an informal reception at his home, 1300 Elder Ave., at 12:30 p.m.
Cuzzort, who was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and received his doctorate from the University of Minnesota, began working at CU-Boulder in 1966, was chair of sociology in the early 1980s and retired in 1988.
A long-time friend and colleague at CU, professor emeritus Rolf Kjolseth, said Cuzzort was a very innovative teacher. One example of this was his course on sociology through film, which used film as the basis for presenting sociological ideas.
He published a number of widely-used academic books and also wrote an unpublished novel, described by Kjolseth as a parody on academic life.
Cuzzort was a pilot, mountain climber, artist and avid cyclist. He served in the U.S. Navy aboard an aircraft carrier in the Pacific during World War ll.