We are sad to announce that on June 2, 2026, at the age of 80, Susan Frances (Graff) Moran died at her Gahanna home after a long illness. Susan was a loving mother, grandmother, sister, and aunt; a loyal friend and neighbor; a committed community volunteer; and a dedicated educator.
Susan was born on March 27, 1946 in Erie, Pennsylvania and grew up on her grandparents’ dairy farms in Fairview Township, moving to Whitehall, Ohio at age 9 with her family. She graduated from Whitehall Yearling High School in 1964, attending Ohio University in Athens until 1967, until marrying and moving to Toledo, Ohio to become a mother. A natural teacher, she worked as a Playground Supervisor for the City of Whitehall in college and later in the 1970s, the Maumee City Schools.
After a 13 year intermission as a full-time parent, in 1980, Susan decided to complete her education at Bowling Green State University (BGSU), earning her B.A. in English in 1982; and in 1987, her M.A. in English / Technical Writing, specializing in training for business and industry. In 1983, she earned a prestigious graduate summer internship with Intel Corporation HQ in Santa Clara, California. After completing it, she declined a lucrative full-time offer with Intel to return to her family in Ohio. At BGSU, she won awards for her writing ability.
For most of the 1980s, as a single parent, Susan worked as a technical writer, editor, and software trainer in the Toledo area while residing in Maumee, editing computer and other textbooks. She was also an adjunct instructor at Owens Technical College, Stautzenberger College, and the University of Toledo. In 1991, Susan returned to Central Ohio and joined the faculty of Columbus State Community College (CSCC). An early integrator of computers and technology into its humanities curriculum, she was promoted to a leadership position to assist other faculty in this endeavor. She rose through the ranks through hard work and force of personality: from a part-time trainer role, to Instructor, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and tenured Professor. She created and ran the Technical Writing Program. Recognizing her intelligence, work ethic, and leadership ability, the College’s first President, Harold Nestor, asked her to join his administration to create the Technical Communication Department, where she served as Chair for several years before rejoining the faculty. She hired and mentored many faculty to help them get started in higher education. For years, she was the “go to” person for corporations in Central Ohio that were looking to recruit talented technical communicators for their organizations. She cared about mentoring non-traditional students, workforce development and connecting students with practical experience in industry.
While at CSCC, she also served as an officer in the NEA / Ohio Education Association union chapter representing faculty at CSCC. She was a committed activist when the faculty first organized, trying to ensure fair compensation and treatment for her colleagues. Susan was a dedicated and beloved administrator and professor, who cared deeply about others. Despite her seniority, she taught introductory courses so that junior faculty could get a break and so she could get to know students who weren’t majoring in her department. A demanding taskmaster and tough grader, nevertheless, many former students stayed in touch with her and owed the start of their careers to her guidance. After many years of service, Susan retired from Columbus State in 2015 and was honored by its Board of Trustees by being named an Emeritus Professor for her dedication to the College, her students, her profession, and the Central Ohio community.
Susan was a Senior Member of the Society for Technical Communication (STC). She held many leadership positions in STC, which named a scholarship for her in 1997. The scholarship was intended to further the education of graduates who made contributions to the technical communication profession in Central Ohio. She helped form other chapters, spoke at STC national conferences, received the Distinguished Service Award in 1999 and was the Member of the Year for the Central Ohio Chapter in 2005. She was also a member of the National Council of Teachers of English. Susan was inducted into the Whitehall Yearling High School Hall of Fame in 2000. She was honored at CSCC with the Columbus State Education Association Faculty Excellence Award in 2013.
A well-rounded and accomplished woman, Susan took up rowing crew in her 40s as a member of the Greater Columbus Rowing Association, winning many medals. Her boat set a course record at the Delaware State Masters. She traveled North America throughout her life, visiting Canada, Mexico, Europe, and the majority of U.S. states. She hiked in the Grand Canyon, rode on the back of a motorcycle in downtown Chicago, floated in a hot air balloon, ate in white tablecloth restaurants from Lisbon to Tijuana, saw Mt. Rushmore, and swam in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. She loved working in her yard and tastefully decorating her home. Susan never met a stranger and loved being neighborly while walking her dogs, Dunder, and later Rudy. Susan was also an avid reader and cherished her books and her book club friends. She lived to host her family and friends for holidays and events in her home. No one could tell a story quite like Susan – she could paint a vivid word picture!
A determined lady whose life was filled with achievement and tragedy, Susan fought and beat cancer in her 40s, going on to be with her family, friends and students for over 30 more years. A family friend described her as “a force to be reckoned with.” She was a resilient person who held very high standards for everyone around her, starting with herself, her family, her students, and her colleagues. Honesty, integrity, fairness, decorum, and good manners were very important to her. Overcoming tremendous adversity in her life, she always had a special sensitivity for people who were “different,” or experiencing hard times. She loved children and was supportive of the children and grandchildren of friends and neighbors.
Upon learning of her death, a friend of her son’s who hadn’t seen her in 30 years said, “Your mom was always so kind to me,” which was her hallmark. Having experienced personal, family, and financial hardship herself, Susan was extremely generous to her students, neighbors, friends, family and many strangers who found themselves in difficulty. She did so without any expectation of recognition. Her Whitehall High School senior yearbook had one word to describe her signature trait: “sensitivity.” She was never a complainer – she was a doer and sacrificed selflessly throughout her life for others. Despite suffering simultaneously from two terminal illnesses, she never once complained – choosing instead to concern herself about how her departure from this world would affect others. She fought like a warrior to the end, outliving her doctor’s expectations by months.
Susan had a strong sense of justice and concern for the equality for all people, not lip service, but by living those values. She had a way of making everyone feel special and included. Always willing to step up to help in whatever community she lived, she served as a Den Leader Coach for her children’s Cub Scout Pack, a PTO volunteer for their schools, supported Special Olympics, WOSU, the Columbus Museum of Art, and the Columbus Zoo. Although too numerous to list all the organizations she served, she volunteered with Columbus Public Schools writing competitions, community leadership events, and the Martin Luther King Arts Complex. Despite mediocre sewing skills, in 1976, she volunteered to sew a panel depicting a historic home on the Bicentennial Quilt that still hangs in the Maumee City Hall. After retirement, she volunteered in Westerville City Schools for several years to tutor reading for special needs students. Despite all of her many professional accolades, Susan was proudest of her family and focused on their accomplishments.
Susan was predeceased by: her parents, Gilson H. Graff and Laura L. (Anderson) Graff Young; and her siblings Sandra L. Graff and Gary R. Graff, along with her beloved canine companion for many years, Dunder.
She is survived by her sons: Michael R. Moran and Matthew (David Marin) Moran; her grandchildren: Patrick, Alexander, Keegan and Caroline Moran; her brother, David (Debbie) Graff, her niece: Amanda (Brad) Lister and their children Abigail (Nick) Bowles, Andrew, Ainsley and Addison Lister; and nephew Evan Graff; and her loyal dog, Rudy. She had many close friends from her years at Columbus State who were like family to her and who rallied around her during her illness. She was particularly devoted to her grandchildren who miss their “Nema,” plus her nieces and nephews, who were all very close with her.
Susan’s family is grateful to and thanks her dedicated caregivers who allowed her to die with dignity at home as she wished, including Bella Care Hospice, Always Neighbors (Gretel), Nancy, her two sons, and grand-niece Abigail Lister Bowles.
In lieu of flowers, the family is recognizing Susan’s extraordinary life of kindness and service to others by funding and encouraging donations to the Professor Susan G. Moran Scholarship Fund, c/o the Columbus State Foundation of Columbus State Community College. You can donate online at this site: <https://tinyurl.com/SusanMoranColumbusState> or with a check payable to Columbus State Foundation, Memo: Susan G. Moran Scholarship Fund, 550 East Spring Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215. The family wants to inspire others to follow Susan’s life of public service by “paying it forward.” All donations will go directly to students in financial need who are enrolled in Susan’s areas of interest, with input from the family on awardees.
Visiting hours will be held on Thursday, June 18, 2026 at 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Schoedinger Margarum Northeast Chapel, 1051 East Johnstown Road, Gahanna, Ohio 43230. A celebration of life will be held in near future.
https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/gahanna-oh/susan-f-moran-12913333