Michael Allan Mayer

Michael (Mike) Allan Mayer, PhD, 57, of Mebane, North Carolina passed away at his residence on November 16, 2015 following a short illness. He was born January 14, 1958 in Mansfield, Ohio. Mike moved with his family to Toledo, Ohio in 1972 and attended St. Francis DeSales High School, graduating in 1976. He attended the University of Toledo, graduating in 1980. He received his Masters in Education Specialist from California Lutheran University and his doctorate in Psychology from Saybrook Graduate School Research Center. He did post doctoral work in Applied Behavior Analysis. While attending St. Francis, Mike was involved in several extracurricular and student government activities. He was in theater and had a lead role in Inherit The Wind his sophomore year. He was elected to Student Council for three years and was editor of The Lance (the school newspaper) his junior and senior years. During his junior year he was also Class Secretary and on the yearbook staff. While at UT, he was an on air disc jockey at WERC. He also was one of the founding members of The Corner. During his time at St. Francis and UT Mike made fast friends and was known for an infectious and slightly crazy sense of humor, an amazing laugh and for giving the best hugs ever. Mike has had a passion for helping others since he was a young adult. That early personal passion laid the foundation for much of his work and focus on helping the developmentally disabled and those with mental illness and led to many academic and professional accomplishments. His dedication to, and focus on, identifying and realizing the full potential of the individual and organization, creating inclusive community organizational cultures emphasizing support and trust, coupled with quality systems and service implementation and conversion efforts, have produced unparalleled achievements in organizational transformation and sustained performance. He has pioneered the development of numerous curricula, assessment tools, and protocols used worldwide, and has authored and edited over 50 publications, books, chapters, and articles. Since 1990, in addition to his writing and academic work, he has been providing disability support organizations around the world with consultation services and innovative cutting-edge training which have resulted in formulating groundbreaking approaches, strategic and forward-looking organization transformation plans, as well as designing objective management measures and processes. He has an international reputation as a pioneer in treating the developmentally disabled and mental illness and a progressive thought leader for his ability to uniquely articulate and blend his research results with pragmatic real-life approaches necessary to achieve objective outcomes. As speaker, consultant and trainer; his singular approach, compassionate drive, and insightful, challenging, and dynamic presentations have helped more than 500 local, state, and national organizations to pursue his enlightening and enriching approach. He has trained more than 70,000 people from all over the world, including the United States, Canada, the Middle East, the Pacific Rim, Africa, Asia, and Europe. He has served on the faculty of several colleges, universities, institutes, international forums, and boards of directors. He was Senior Partner in Community Resource Alliance and was the Executive Director of the Institute on Complex Disabilities for 12 years. He collaborated with Derrick Dufresne to develop of the 5-Star Quality Transformation Model.TM He was a founding partner of Community Resource Alliance, a company dedicated to improving treatment of the developmentally mentally disabled an mental illness; and Peak Performance Partners, a business leadership and motivational company. He has received numerous professional awards and recognition, most notably for his exemplary service to the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities and the North Carolina National Alliance on Mental Illness renamed their statewide advocacy award the Mike Mayer Advocacy Award in his honor. Mike was deeply spiritual and put his faith into practice. He and his wife Laura were instrumental in founding a community outreach center in Mebane, NC and he also founded a Christian school in Africa. Mike lived by his challenging motto “Dont predict the future - Invent it!” He is survived by his wife, Laura Balish Mayer; son, Collin Mayer (Lydia); son, Marty Mayer (Jessica); daughter, Nikki Mayer; father, Jack and Mary Walker Mayer (recently deceased) and sister, Marcia (Dick) Willinger-Kaverman. He was preceded in death by his sisters, Cindy (John) Willinger and Laurie. The family invites friends and classmates of Mike for fellowship and reminiscing from 2:00 - 7:00 pm, Thursday, March 31, 2016 at the Ward Pavilion, Wildwood Preserve Metropark, 5100 W. Central Avenue, Toledo Ohio 43615. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made in Mikes name to the Michael A. Mayer Academy (Christian school in Mazabuka, Zambia, Africa) in care of Marcia Willinger-Kaverman, 2830 Evergreen Road, Toledo, OH 43606.