Robert Mark Mcleod

Robert "Mark" McLeod, 68, of Decatur, GA, died peacefully in his sleep on the morning of January 21, 2023. Mark was born on May 29, 1954 in Andalusia, AL to The Reverend L. Powers McLeod and Mrs. Annie Wilds McLeod. Mark and his fraternal twin brother, Mike, were the youngest children in the family which included three older siblings. Having a Methodist minister as a dad meant that Mark and his family moved around every few years. After Andalusia, Mark lived in Auburn, Mobile, and Montgomery, AL, and finally Pensacola, FL where Mark graduated from high school.

Mark learned some of his most important life lessons during his childhood. From his dad, a liberal Methodist minister in the deep South during the turbulent 1960's, Mark learned the importance of standing up for what's right, even if it's not popular, and treating everyone with dignity and respect. From his mother, a social worker for special needs youth and adults, Mark learned the importance of helping others overcome their disabilities in order to lead happy, fulfilling, and productive lives.

Mark attended Tulane University in New Orleans, where he met a wonderful group of friends with whom he remained close throughout his life. He graduated summa cum laude from Tulane in 1976, with a B.S. in Psychology, and was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Society.

After college, Mark attended graduate school at Emory University in Atlanta. He graduated with a PhD in Clinical Psychology in 1982. As he did at Tulane, Mark met a wonderful group of friends, colleagues, and mentors at Emory, with whom he was close throughout his life. During Mark's first year of graduate school, he became especially close to a fellow graduate student, Amy Goch, whom he would soon describe as the love of his life. It seemed an unlikely pairing - a southern boy from a family of ministers, and a Jewish girl from New York City who had never set foot in the South prior to attending Emory. Nevertheless, Mark and Amy fell in love and were married in 1981... and they were happily married for over 41 years.

In 1982, Mark was hired as the first counselor and assistant director of the newly created Emory University Student Counseling Center. Ten years later, in 1992, Mark was hired as the director, a title he held for 23 years until his retirement in 2015. In addition to his role at the Counseling Center, Mark was also an adjunct professor in the Department of Psychology.

While the official name of the Counseling Center has changed over the years, Mark's commitment to enhancing the lives of students, staff, and faculty members at Emory never wavered. He received many honors and awards for the work he did in collaboration with students and colleagues to help improve the lives of others. Some highlights include: establishing an innovative and ground-breaking mental health and counseling fee that raised awareness about mental health and expanded access to mental health services across campus; earning national recognition for Emory's mental health services and suicide prevention programs; helping to establish and advise a student-led chapter of Active Minds (a nationwide organization promoting mental health awareness); and developing highly regarded multi-disciplinary training opportunities at the Counseling Center for students and young professionals.

In addition to his work at Emory, Mark also shared his expertise with many outside organizations. He worked with the Carter Center on mental health awareness, with CIEE to help ensure the safety and well-being of students studying abroad, and with community agencies providing much needed services to at-risk children and young adults (CHRIS 180 and Georgia Baptist Children's Homes).

What mattered most to Mark were his relationships with others. Mark cared deeply about people and enjoyed getting to know them, not just professionally, but personally. Mark's door was always open and he was always willing to listen or lend a hand. Meeting friends, colleagues, or students for breakfast, lunch, or coffee was something Mark enjoyed immensely. Mark's son, Andrew, who attended college at Emory, said that he never walked around campus with his dad without someone stopping to say hello and chat with Mark.

Mark encouraged and reminded his staff and colleagues to take care of themselves, and he practiced what he preached. He always had time for his extensive network of family and friends, including a weekly round of golf with buddies.

Mark was a devoted family man who adored his wife and children. From the beginning, Mark was a very engaged dad to his daughter Stephanie and son Andrew, whether that involved changing diapers or getting up in the middle of the night to soothe a crying baby. As the kids grew older, the activities changed, but Mark's level of engagement never diminished. He loved spending time with his family: playing with his children, taking care of their beloved family dog, inventing fun games, attending countless sporting events and school activities, coaching Andrew's little league teams, dancing with Stephanie at her daddy-daughter dances, taking road-trips to visit family and friends, and going on weeks-long adventures across the country and around the world. Mark and his family were active members of Central Congregational United Church of Christ and active participants in their interfaith family group that Mark and Amy helped found 31 years ago.

What was important to Mark was not just what he did, but how he showed up in the world. Mark was a wonderful role model for his children, as well as for his colleagues at work. He was described by colleagues as caring, kind, smart, thoughtful, sensitive, and humble. Those same adjectives are regularly used to describe Stephanie and Andrew - and that may very well be Mark's greatest legacy.

Mark is survived by his wife, Amy Goch of Decatur, GA and by his children: Stephanie McLeod (partner, Rick Manning) of Redmond, WA and Andrew McLeod (partner, Sabine Weber) of Germany. He is also survived by his four siblings: twin brother Mike (Karen) McLeod and Powers (Rosann) McLeod of Pensacola, FL; Louis (Linda) McLeod of Decatur, GA; and Anne (Mike) Warren of Birmingham, AL; sister-in-law Fran Goch of Decatur, GA; and many nieces, nephews, great-nieces, and great-nephews.

A Celebration of Mark's Life will be held on Saturday, March 4, 2023 at 11:00 am at Central Congregational United Church of Christ, 2676 Clairmont Rd, NE, Atlanta, GA 30329. For those who wish to attend the service virtually, there will be a Zoom link available on the church's website (central-ucc.org).

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that contributions be made to CHRIS 180 (donate.chris180.org), or to any charity of your choice.