J. Douglas Conner was born May 29, 1927 in Kansas City. He grew up in San Antonio, and graduated from Central Catholic High School. He graduated from SMU with a BS in 1950 and MEd in 1953. While at SMU he was a member of the varsity swim team, a member of Kappa Alpha fraternity and Blue Key.
He served as Registrar and Director of the Office of Admissions and Records.
He was President of the Texas Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.
He was chair of the Dallas Committee of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and a deacon in the Highland Park Presbyterian Church.
The Dallas Morning News obituary on June 16, 1989:
Services for John Douglas Conner, former registrar and director of admissions at Southern Methodist University, will be at 10 a.m.Saturday at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Herndon, Va. Burial will be at Chestnut Grove Cemetery in Herndon.
Dr. Conner, who had been living in Reston, Va., died Monday at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute in Houston after a long illness. He was 62.
Dr. Conner received his doctorate in education psychology from North Texas State University, now the University of North Texas, in 1966. He was registrar and director of admissions at SMU from 1953 to 1966 and was swimming coach at Highland Park High School.
In 1966, Dr. Conner went to Washington, D.C., to become the first executive director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, the AACRAO. He retired in 1988.
Dr. Conner is survived by his wife, Gail Conner; four daughters, Caroline Parrish, Christina Middaugh and Cameron Conner, all of Reston, and Courtney Gardini of New York; a son, Larry Conner of Chapel Hill, N.C.; and two grandchildren.
Memorials may be made to the J. Douglas Conner Scholarship Fund at AACRAO, One DuPont Circle N.W., Suite 330, Washington, D.C. 20036.