Legacy of late university president still felt today

Gregory Baker Wolfe thoroughly embraced the university’s international nature and set the institution on a path to becoming world class. Just days after the death of FIU’s third president, on Saturday, Dec. 12, and some 29 years since he led FIU, his legacy remains a part of its DNA.

“It was a transformational presidency,” said John Stack, executive director of the Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs, who was a young faculty member when Wolfe arrived. “It was Greg Wolfe who began to undertake and envision an international component. For him, it wasn’t just a word. It was the world he had worked for all his life. He had a vision of public service, a vision of government service. He had a vision of a dynamic university.”

A World War II veteran, Wolfe had served as an intelligence analyst for the U.S. State Department and worked on the White House staffs of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson before heading to Portland State University in Oregon and then FIU. The son of Russian immigrants, he was a linguist fluent in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese who earned a Ph.D. at Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He landed on campus in February of 1979, a seasoned diplomat with the savvy to get things done.

Stack recalled how the eloquent orator began chipping away at the anonymity – the “FIWho?” syndrome – that had dogged the fledgling university. Along with his wife, Mary Ann, he hosted dinners that brought to campus luminaries from the worlds of politics, government and public service, the media and the diplomatic corps. And he instituted a lecture series with big-name speakers such as then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Noble Laureate Elie Wiesel that “gave us exposure in the city that we simply had not had before.”

Related: President Rosenberg: Gregory B. Wolfe ‘helped move the university forward’

Retired former director of the Graham Center Ruth Hamilton worked with Wolfe to bring many of the dignitaries and other important guests to campus, something that was not happening elsewhere in town. She often worried that the high-level visitors might be taken aback by FIU’s, at the time, relatively unattractive surroundings, its poured-concrete buildings standing in sharp contrast to the red brick and ivy many were used to.

In fact, Hamilton said, many did express surprise at the lackluster facilities, but “the moment they met the president, he would make them feel comfortable,” she said. “They would be laughing and sharing stories. He made them feel at home.”

A staunch believer in multiculturalism, the president showcased FIU’s burgeoning international enrollment to the many locally stationed consuls by inviting them to campus. He had students from the corresponding countries hand deliver the invitations, Hamilton recalled, and then a parade of nations would precede the meal.

Recognizing Miami’s potential, and its needs, Wolfe knew that FIU could not remain an upper-division institution for long. So he made an impassioned case for expansion to the Florida legislature, where he had his share of supporters.

“We want Miami to be a metropolitan, cosmopolitan city in another 30-40 years,” Hamilton recalled him telling local leaders. “If we want to attract corporations, companies, investors, talent to this city, we must have a top-notch four-year public university.”

FIU’s inaugural group of freshmen arrived in August of 1981.

Wolfe went on to name a dean of undergraduate studies, add new graduate programs and turn the Biscayne Bay Campus (BBC) into a thriving community that included FIU’s first student residential housing; a new student center—today known as the Wolfe University Center; an aquatic center; and a library. BBC also began offering a host of adult education programs.

During his tenure, the university also added full-fledged schools of engineering, nursing and journalism.

For all his success in navigating politics and his ease in entertaining the intellectual and the powerful, the president maintained a down-to-earth sensibility that resonated across class and background.

“It didn’t matter who you were,” said Kay Fahringer, former chair of the FIU Foundation Board of Directors, who worked closely with Wolfe to raise money for the university. “He made you feel that you were the only person in the world. He made you feel very important. He gave full attention, was always complimentary and he did it with such charm.”

Barbara Bader, an administrator and former College of Education faculty member, recalled with amazement one particular walk across campus with Wolfe.

“He stopped to speak with one of the groundskeepers. In Spanish, he greeted him by name and inquired about his family,” she remembered. “In the cafeteria, he spoke with the woman serving our food, also in Spanish, and asked about her children by name. After lunch he pulled up a chair where several students were finishing their lunch and said, ‘Hi, I’m Greg Wolfe and I’m interested in knowing how school is going for you.’”

Judy Blucker, a retired university administrator, knows firsthand how Wolfe cared about employees. When her brother was among the 52 Americans taken hostage in Iran in 1979, Wolfe “took a real interest in me and my family for those 444 days. He would write personal notes to me, ‘thinking of you and your family,’ about every month, never failed.”

Knowing just what do in almost any situation, Wolfe pulled a spectacular move when in 1983 he introduced legendary singer Ella Fitzgerald to a crowd of concertgoers at BBC. Hamilton remembers how the weather did not cooperate for the outdoor affair.

“When she went on stage, it was raining, and President Wolfe got an umbrella and held it for her, and she sang under that umbrella.” The image of the university president with the movie-star good looks shielding the first lady of jazz from the elements summed up the man for Hamilton.

“He understood people, relationships,” she said. “He was a very charismatic person.”

Wolfe retired from the presidency in 1986 and for years remained a distinguished professor in FIU’s Department of International Relations. A memorial service is tentatively planned for next month at BBC. More information will be forthcoming.