Hugh Johnston Sloan, III, PhD, 78, passed away Sunday, April 19, 2020, at his home in Oxford, surrounded by his family, following an extended illness unrelated to the current crisis. Arrangements are incomplete at this time. Coleman Funeral Home of Oxford is in charge of local arrangements. Wells Funeral Home in Waynesville, NC is in charge of burial services in the family plots at Green Hill Cemetery.  
 
Hugh graduated from Portsmouth High School after founding the Science Club, serving on the Library Staff and joining the PHS Honor Society. He entered Ohio University in Athens on a full academic scholarship, and “discovered women and alcohol at the same time”. He recovered his GPA during his second semester, under the guidance of the Dean of Students, and qualified to keep his scholarship, but decided he was too immature for college, and he joined the U.S. Air Force following his freshman year.  
 
The Air Force, recognizing his talent for languages, sent Hugh to college. Defense Language Institute instructors at Indiana University and Syracuse University trained him as a Russian linguist. He served for 27 years as an intelligence analyst in such posts as Peshawar, Pakistan and Misawa, Japan, listening to Soviet MiG instructors training pilots for service in Vietnam and intercepting historic Space Race transmissions like those by Gherman Titov, the second person to orbit Earth.  
 
While on active duty, Hugh studied with The University of Maryland Overseas and was awarded a B.S. in Political Science, receiving his diploma in a ceremony in a conference hotel in Tokyo. His first M.S. degree was in Political Science from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.  
 
Hugh worked for many years for AT&T, Ohio Bell Commercial Sales, in Springfield, Dayton, Cleveland, and Columbus, Ohio. While working for Bell, he earned an MBA at Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, Ohio.  
 
Hugh earned the Master of Science in Marketing at The Ohio State University in Columbus, then his PhD in Marketing with a Minor in Logistics. Hugh’s work with corporate America, merged with his experience in Air Force intel, produced an expertise and passion for supply chain management, which he applied to his teaching career. His students frequently thanked him for his instructive military and business stories.  
 
At age 50, with Mary and their 6 months old son, Hugh IV, he moved to his first faculty job at the University of Mississippi. He chose Ole Miss in part because they took him to Smitty’s for breakfast. He immediately called Mary and told her: “They served me grits! Mary… I hadn’t ordered grits. I’m home!”  
 
Following the late Jeff Meaders, and having been a Civil Air Patrol cadet, Hugh led Oxford’s Steve Launius Composite Squadron, Civil Air Patrol, empowering cadets and senior leaders to excel in aerospace education, emergency services, and the noblest Air Force traditions. CAP’s Mississippi Wing honored his years as Director of Aerospace Education and many other duties with the T.G. Fortune Lifetime Achievement Award.  
 
Dr. Sloan retired as Associate Professor Emeritus of Marketing at the University of Mississippi after teaching for 29 years. He taught thousands of students and hundreds of Civil Air Patrol cadets.  
 
Dr. Sloan will be long missed by his family and friends for his generosity, his fearless view of life and, to quote a colleague, his insatiable intellectual curiosity. Hugh is survived by his wife and best friend, Mary Love Stringfield Sloan, of Oxford; one son, Hugh Johnston Sloan, IV, of Oxford; one daughter, Susan Kathleen Harper, of Plano, Texas; and one sister, Mary Linda Sloan Guernsey, of Fairborn, Ohio. Also surviving Dr. Sloan are nephew and niece, Michael Hugh Guernsey and Kristina Nicole Quinn (Robert), two grandnephews, Michael Hugh Quinn and Kolton Alan Quinn; and one grandniece, Ashlyn Faith Quinn. He also leaves two granddaughters, Danielle Marie Gebhart and Stacey Renee Pressley (Christian); and three great-grandchildren, Kailey Celeste Hendrix, Kaydon Kyree Hendrix, and Aniya Rose Pressley.  
 
In lieu of flowers, donations honoring Dr. Sloan may be made to Cambridge United Methodist Church in care of Fran Fuller, Treasurer, at 212 Ross Avenue, Oxford; or to Civil Air Patrol, the official civilian auxiliary of the United States Air Force, in care of Dwight Frink, PhD, Squadron Commander, dfrink.cap@yahoo.com.  
 
Online condolences may be left on the Tribute Wall at www.colemanfuneralhome.com.