Alumnus Mark P. Coville ’79, a 2013 inductee into the School of Business Hall of Fame who maintained a strong affinity for his alma mater, passed away on Dec. 10, 2015, after a two-year battle with leukemia. He was 58.

Coville was a managing director in BlackRock Inc.’s trading and liquidity strategy group and had a long and successful career in financial services. He graduated from UConn in 1979 with a degree in finance.

During his 25 years with Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Coville held a variety of senior positions in Capital Markets and was instrumental in developing the international stock loan business. He oversaw the expansion of the business, both domestically and in London. Upon his return stateside, Coville was responsible for the development of the global securities lending business. He returned to London and oversaw the international sales team for Blackrock, merging the Blackrock and Merrill Lynch teams. Most recently, he had worked at BlackRock’s New York headquarters, responsible for senior client relationships.

Coville was an active and strong member of the School’s Investment Advisory Board, which oversees the Student Managed Fund. In that role he served as a speaker and mentor to many students over the years.

“Mark was torn from our lives too soon and the entire UConn community mourns his loss,” said Dean John A. Elliott. “He earned induction into our Business School Hall of Fame by his professional accomplishments and commitments to the community and to UConn. He spent two long years fighting his cancer, yet in those years he displayed continuing courage, optimism and humanity.”

After his extensive leukemia treatments, including a bone marrow transplant, Coville had a changed and broadened outlook on life, he told an interviewer from the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey. He devoted a great deal of time to painting and reading U.S. history and described himself as a different person.

“While he may have felt a different person, I experienced a refocused person who took advantage of his enforced change of pace to think and grow in profound ways,” Elliott said.

Coville, who resided in New Hope, Penn., is survived by his wife, Lynda (nee Coombs), his children, Candace and David, and his sister, Brenda Coville Harrigan. He was predeceased by his parents, David William Coville and Jane Bradford Coville, and he was a direct descendant of William Bradford from the Mayflower. He served on the board of The Sharing Network of New Jersey, the American Red Cross, and The Wounded Warrior Project. A spring memorial is planned.