Police probe university professor's death

KENT (AP) -- A University of Akron professor was apparently beaten to death in his home, and police were investigating it as a homicide.
The body of Douglas Shaw, 61, was discovered Thursday. Police said Shaw's death was caused by blunt force trauma to the head. No weapon had been found.
The professor's death stunned friends and peers who remember the community activist as a good-humored man, even as he spoke out against projects that he felt could hurt Kent's future development.
Shaw, 61, had taught at the University of Akron for 32 years, and was a faculty member in the Department of Public Administration and Urban Studies. "This is a very somber place today," department chairman Raymond Cox said. "Everyone is walking around in a daze. Many of the faculty and graduate assistants who wouldn't necessarily be here on a Friday came by to express their shock and dismay."
Cox said Shaw had given no indication of problems outside the office.
Shaw's wife answered the phone at the couple's home Friday but she said she did not want to talk about her husband's death.
Shaw grew up in New Jersey and got his doctorate at the University of Rochester, Cox said. Shaw joined the faculty at the University of Akron in 1972, and had been there ever since.
Shaw also worked on the Kent Planning Commission and several community advisory boards.
"He was a wonderful person, so levelheaded," Cox said. "He was the person we turned to when we needed to vent or were frustrated or just to chat."