Friday, November 2, 2007

Rich Bodenschatz sent the following message to the Director's List Serve upon hearing the news of the passing of two of our founding members.

With his permission, I am re-releasing his words to the rest of our membership so that we all can benefit from learning about those who made what we have today possible.

Tom Nesbitt
SUNYCAP President
SUNY Potsdam

Colleagues:
For those of us who have served in SUNY for more years than we'd like to count, today is indeed a sad day. Two of our founding members have passed on and with them an important link to the growth and maturation of both SUNY and SUNYCAP.

Dave Truax, admissions counselor, then director at Plattsburgh, then the first Assistant Vice Chancellor for Enrollment at SUNY System, was a true SUNY pioneer. A graduate of Cortland, he was SUNY to the core.

While his focus at Plattsburgh was Plattsburgh, he also understood the bigger picture of SUNY and what SUNY could and should be. As president of SUNYCAP and later on at SUNY System, he worked tirelessly for the expansion of the SUNY message to all publics in and out of state. A true gentleman, he was a keen observer of talent, as evidenced by the success of Rich Higgins and Mike Walsh at Plattsburgh, and a mentor to dozens of other young admission professionals who now hold positions of significant responsibility.

Larry Appel. All you need to is say his name and people's faces light up and a "Larry" story comes to mind. For over 30 years Larry was Sullivan County Community College. His favorite recruitment statement to the thousands of guidance counselors he met with over his career was, "I'll gladly take the top 100% of your graduating class!" And he meant it with all his heart. Larry also was the poster child for the community college movement. He believed deeply in the mission and the opportunity that our community colleges offered to all New Yorkers. In the early days, his voice was sometimes the only, unapologetic voice, that spoke for the community colleges. Those of you who serve your regions as members of community colleges owe a huge debt to Larry for his tireless efforts. And that was just one side of Larry. SUNY was also Larry's life and his involvement in a variety of SUNYCAP ventures testifies to this. For decades, it seemed, Larry's presentation at New Professional Orientation, helped to lead many of us to successfully navigate that first, confusing, year in admissions.

For those of us who had the privilege to know, to work with, break bread with and laugh with Dave and Larry, this is a bittersweet time for sure. Yet remember there can be no doubt amongst us that we are better professionals and better people for having shared the experience.

God bless.
Rich Bodenschatz
SUNY New Paltz

1 comment:

Noreen Mante said...

Rich- This leaves me with a tear in my eye. Both were wonderful people and true believers in SUNY. This is sad news indeed. Noreen