Remembering Joe Slaughter
With deep sadness, the Cornerstone University community is mourning the loss of one of the university’s longtime stalwarts. Last weekend, Mr. Joe Slaughter, one of Cornerstone’s fine alums as well as a former member of the university’s board of trustees, passed away unexpectedly in Scottsdale, Ariz., from a pulmonary embolism. He was 75.
Joe graduated from Grand Rapids Baptist College in 1969. Along with various campus activities, he was an enthusiastic member of the men’s basketball team. Later, he would join Cornerstone’s board of trustees—serving through 2015. While on the board of trustees, Joe provided outstanding leadership for the finance committee.
In recent years, Joe created a scholarship to honor Victor Matthews. Thousands of dollars have been contributed to the scholarship fund that originally aided CU student-athletes and now provides tuition assistance to students attending CU after successfully graduating from Indianapolis’s Center for Leadership Development.
“Joe was an ardent follower of Jesus Christ,” said Dr. Gerson Moreno-Riaño, president of Cornerstone University. “His wife Sandra shared that ‘Joe flourished with a belief that we live and move and have our being by the grace of God.’ As a result, Cornerstone University was a better place because of Joe’s passion for his LORD and Joe’s commitment to our university.”
Just last summer, Joe and Sandra visited campus for the 1960s and 1970s class reunion.
His stellar business career escalated him to the CEO position of Herff Jones, an Indianapolis-based company providing products to the education industry. The Slaughters, who have two sons, resided in Indiana before retiring exclusively in Arizona two years ago.
Joe will be greatly missed by his Cornerstone community. Services to celebrate Joe’s life are planned for the spring in Scottsdale and early summer in Indianapolis.
