Dee Ware

Dolores “Dee” Jamison Ware was inducted into the inaugural College of Applied Human Sciences Hall of Fame in the fall of 2025. She was previously inducted into the College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences Hall of Fame in 2003 and named Outstanding Alumna in 2010.

A native of Morgantown, W.Va., she earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Education from West Virginia University in 1952. As a student, she served as president of Chi Omega, was a member of Orchesis and Dolphins Swimming Honorary, and was Regimental Sponsor for the ROTC Army Corps. Following graduation, she taught modern dance at WVU and advised Orchesis.

Ware taught in public schools across West Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut,   and spent time living abroad with her family in Tokyo. There, she was active in the College Women’s Association, Nadoshiko-Kai, and was a patron of the Tokyo Woodblock Print Show. From 1980 to 1990, she served as managing director of the Color Association of the United States, a leading fashion color forecasting group based in New York City.

In 1977, Ware and her husband, Al Ware, co-founded Amherst International Inc., which expanded into the fiber optics industry in 1991. Amherst FiberOptics became a leading manufacturer and distributor across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Al is also a member of the CPASS and CAHS Halls of Fame.

She was a longtime supporter of WVU and a leader in the development of the Stansbury Hall Fitness/Wellness Center. Her family established the Ware Distinguished Professorship in the former School of Physical Education to support lifelong fitness education, particularly for youth in West Virginia. In 2006, the Wares donated family land to the WVU Foundation that had been in her family for more than 60 years.

Ware served on the boards of Amherst International, the Venice (Fla.) YMCA, and Manatee Community College, and was a member of the School of Physical Education and Blaney House Visiting Committees.

Dee passed away in 2018.