Malcolm McLean was enjoying a distinguished career as a U.S. diplomat in Central America until he got a call from an old family friend.

It was the early 1970s. The friend, a board member at Northland College in Ashland, Wis., told McLean that he should consider applying to become president of that school.

Soon McLean, a Duluth native, made a complete career change. He moved his family from his post in Guatemala to northern Wisconsin. From 1971 to 1987, he helped shape Northland into a liberal arts school with a strong environmental studies curriculum.

McLean, 87, died Nov. 19 in his St. Paul home.

His son Hugh McLean, of Elmhurst, Ill., said his father "filled people with the spirit of Northland College."

"Three things my father deeply loved: Northland College, his family, and finally, my mother," he said. "He worshiped my mother."

McLean met his wife, Wendy, when they were both working in Korea. They dated for two weeks, then married. They were married for 58 years.

Said Hugh McLean: "I told her, 'Mom, you are a fairy tale. You met a man, you fell in love in two weeks and lived happily every after.' She is going to miss him worst of all. They were soul mates."

McLean was born in Duluth and attended boarding school in North Carolina. He graduated from Yale University and served as a diplomat before becoming Northland's president.

Jonathan Morgan, a friend and colleague at Northland College, said McLean was an inspired, positive leader who was good at connecting with students, faculty and staff.

"It made being his friend and colleague a wonderful experience, because he was so encouraging of others and affirming of others in their own lives and aspirations," he said.

Morgan said McLean was humorous, gentle, attentive and passionate, a "man of all seasons."

After serving at Northland, McLean moved to St. Paul, where he was president of the United Arts Council before working for several years with Compatible Technology International of St. Paul.

Son Christopher McLean of Berkeley, Calif., said his parents also spent time volunteering as teaching assistants at Paul and Sheila Wellstone Elementary School. "That speaks to their commitment to service and education, and they loved being with the kids," he said.

McLean also read to the blind, and was involved with the arts and with United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities.

"He was our hero, certainly someone you looked up to," Hugh McLean said.

In addition to his wife and sons Hugh and Christopher, McLean is survived by another son, Ian of Lincoln, Neb., and six grandchildren. Services will be private.