John Wassom, the chair of the Commonwealth School’s Business Division at WKU, died Tuesday night at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. He was 71.

Visitation for Wassom will take place from 3 to 7 p.m. Friday at J.C. Kirby & Son Funeral Home, located at 820 Lovers Lane. The funeral will take place at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Hazelwood Cemetery in Grinnell, Iowa.

Anyone wishing to do so can make a donation to the Dr. John C. Wassom Memorial Scholarship Fund through the College Heights Foundation.

Wassom, the former economics department head at WKU, was a native of Davenport, Iowa, according to an obituary in The Daily News. He is survived by his wife of 50 years, Sharon Ferneau Wassom; a son, Greg Wassom; two grandsons, Jack and Ben Wassom; two sisters, Jeanne Iburg and Marilyn Mottaz; and several nieces and nephews.