April 21, 1948 – March 17, 2022
During her 45-year career as a psychology professor at Canisius College, Marguerite “Sherry” D. Kermis designed a certificate course in gerontology, directed the college’s gerontology programs and served as the program director at the Dr. George E. Schreiner Pre-Medical Center.
Through it all, her family and colleagues said, she focused on mentoring students and sharing her knowledge.
“Sherry had an open door policy on campus for anyone who needed advice,” said Eileen Herbert, Canisius College’s chief communications officer. “She was an extremely compassionate, lovely person.”
Dr. Kermis, a professor who had earned professional recognition during her lengthy career, including the title of Outstanding Woman Educator of Western New York from the University at Buffalo, died on March 17. She was 73.
In the years she had spent in the classroom, Dr. Kermis taught about a variety of topics, ranging from gerontology and child psychology to mental health and aging, her family recalled.
Dr. Kermis received recognition as the Kenneth L. Koessler Distinguished Professor, a title presented for scholarship, teaching and service, in 1985.
During her career, Dr. Kermis was author or co-author of three works, the most recent of them called “Children Today,” a work she had co-authored, which appeared in 1994. Her earlier works came out in 1983, with “Psychology of Human Aging: Theory, Research, and Practice,” and in 1986, for “Mental Health in Late Life.”
She designed Canisius College’s certificate course in gerontology in 1978, and for more than a decade, from 1980 to 1992, she had directed the college’s gerontology programs.
The former Marguerite D. DeYeager was a native of Rochester. She graduated from Our Lady of Mercy High School in Brighton in 1966.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Canisius College in 1972. Afterward, she did graduate studies in lifespan developmental psychology, receiving a master’s degree in 1975 and a doctorate the following year at Syracuse University.
Dr. Kermis began her career in the college’s Department of Psychology in 1977. Her work centered in the area of lifespan developmental psychology.
In addition, Dr. Kermis completed studies at the School of Medicine at UB for a post-doctoral master’s degree in social and preventative medicine, or epidemiology, in 1983.</…….