Paul Anthony Weller passed away at Oaknoll Retirement Home on Friday, September 25 after eight courageous years of living with Parkinson’s disease and Lewy body dementia. He was born in 1947 in Edinburgh, Scotland to Joan (Edwards) Weller while his father, A. John Weller, was serving outside the UK as a member of England’s Royal Air Force. He grew up in Royal Tunbridge Wells, England, and was a scholarship student in classics at Tonbridge School. He later received a BA(Hons) in Psychology, Philosophy, and Physiology from The University of Oxford and a Ph.D. in Economics from Essex University.

Paul moved to the United States eight years after meeting the love of his life, Sara Rynes, while spending a year as a visiting professor at Cornell University where Sara had just joined the faculty. They dated across the Atlantic for seven years before marrying, as each tried to convince the other to move to his or her country. (The Sherlock Holmeses among you will deduce that Sara won). They both found jobs as professors in the University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business and quickly fell in love with the University and Iowa City.

Over a distinguished 21-year career before his retirement, Paul was the John F. Murray Professor of Finance, served as director of the department’s doctoral program for many years, and concluded his tenure as chair of the Finance department. He also helped international students at the University of Iowa learn English through conversation lessons. One of these students, Seung-Wook Kim, became a lifelong friend.

Paul was an adventurous traveler. By age 17, he had already traversed ten countries while hitchhiking from England to India. Other countries he traveled to in his early years include Morocco, Libya, Syria, Jordan, Hong Kong, Lebanon, Turkey and Algeria. He continued his international travels with Sara and his sons, Ben and Daniel, on numerous hiking trips, where he could be seen striding the hills with a very wide-brimmed hat to protect his fair skin. When the boys were young, he took them to adventurous hiking destinations including Romania, Switzerland, and Argentina. He also traveled widely with his American grandsons, Liam, Luke and Logan, whose favorite trip was to Maui. He was athletic most of his life, running multiple half-marathons and completing his first marathon at age 62. He transmitted his love of running to Ben and Daniel, who both became ultramarathoners.

He was a lover of classical music (particularly Bach), and a voracious reader of both fiction (favorite authors were Ian McEwan, Paul Auster, and Martin Amis) and nonfiction. In his earlier years, he was an avid gardener with a passion for plants and an encyclopedic knowledge of botanical genera and species. He was an excellent photographer with his own darkroom, and a superb cook who loved executing special menu requests (Ben and Daniel’s favorite was Paul’s “mean cheesecake”). He served on the boards of Riverside Theater and Bur Oak Land Trust and was a generous contributor to many artistic, humanistic, educational, environmental, and health-related causes.

Paul was very well liked. Words used to describe him at his retirement party included calm, generous, wise, fair, trustworthy, collegial, charming, and philosophical. He loved discussing travel, politics, philosophy, movies, and books, particularly with a nice glass of red and a box of chocolates. He was an intent listener, always attuned to the mood and message of the speaker. He gave friends robust bear hugs and, occasionally, enthusiastic kisses.

He is survived by his wife, Sara Rynes-Weller, his sons Ben and Daniel Weller, and stepdaughter Jenna (Mark) Morrison. He is also survived by his five grandsons (Liam, Luke and Logan Morrison, and George and Arlo Weller) and his niece, Hannah Weller, grand-nephew Max and grand-niece Bella O’Brien. He was preceded in death by his parents and his brother, Peter.

A celebration of life will be held on Saturday afternoon, December 5, 2026 at Oaknoll Retirement Community.

(Sc 60-64)