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NOVEMBER 9 - 15, 2022 • ANTON MEDIA GROUP
OBITUARY
Butts, Longtime Old Westbury President, Dies At 73
T
he State University its historic commitment to of New York at social justice.” Old Westbury is Other tributes from mourning the passing prominent New Yorkers of Rev. Calvin Butts III. followed. Butts, a former president “I am deeply saddened of the university, died on by the passing of Reverend Oct. 28. He was 73. Dr. Calvin O. Butts, III. For Butts, who was the 50 years he nobly served pastor of Abyssinian Abyssinian Baptist Church Baptist Church in New and SUNY Old Westbury York, served as president fighting for equality. He was of SUNY-Old Westbury a dear friend and I often from 1999 to 2020, besought his counsel. My Rev. Dr. Calvin O. Butts, III coming the longest-servprayers are with his family ing chief executive in the university’s history. and the many lives he touched with his Butts’s affiliation with Abyssinian Baptist ministry.” U.S. Senator Charles Schumer. lasted even longer. At the time of his death, “I am deeply saddened by the passing of he was senior pastor of that church, where Dr. Calvin O. Butts III, a tremendous leader he had served in various capacities for 50 who served our state, our city and our nation years. with grace, dignity and passion. Dr. Butts “I had the pleasure of engaging with Dr. served as pastor of the historic Abyssinian Butts a few times since my arrival on camBaptist Church in Harlem, as president of pus,” said Timothy E. Sams, who succeeded SUNY Old Westbury, the founder of the Dr. Butts when he assumed the presidency transformative Abyssinian Development of SUNY Old Westbury in January 2021. “I Corp., and as the visionary leader who was, and always will remain, impressed not helped establish the Thurgood Marshall only by his love for this institution and its Academy public school in Manhattan. Dr. people, but for his belief in the powerful role Butts was a force for moral clarity, a voice for SUNY Old Westbury must play in providing his Harlem community, a counselor to so access to a high-quality education and for many of us in public service and I was proud
to call him a friend. Bill and I are praying for his wife, Patricia Butts, children, and grandchildren and for all New Yorkers who have felt the impact of Dr. Butts’ visionary leadership. We will miss him greatly” Governor Kathy Hochul said. The SUNY Old Westbury website listed the pastor’s many achievements. “During his time at SUNY Old Westbury, he directed a period of tremendous success and growth, highlighted by the introduction of the highest admissions standards on record for the college, enrollment growth of more than 1,800 students (more than 56 percent) and the introduction in 2004 of graduate instruction at the College, which now boasts more than 300 students studying in 19 master’s degree programs. “Under his leadership, Old Westbury received significant national and international recognition, including Presidential honors for nine consecutive years for its academically-embedded civic engagement program for first-time-to-college students. The institution was recognized each year by U.S. News and World Report for the diversity of its student body, upholding the campus’ historic commitment to access and opportunity for all members of society, and in 2018 earned its first Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award from Insight Into Diversity
magazine, an honor it has earned in the four subsequent years as well. “Additionally, he led more than $200 million in capital construction and renovation projects for the campus, including introducing to the campus The Woodlands Residence Halls, the Student Union, University Police Department Headquarters, as well as the new, $64 million Academic Building, which opened in 2012 as the first LEED Gold certified higher education facility on Long Island. Notable renovations include the renovation of the Campus Center Building, the Campus Library which now bears his name, and more than $10 million in instructional and administrative technological enhancements across the campus. “He was also an active member of the greater Long Island community, serving on the leadership boards of such organizations as The Long Island Association, the Boy Scouts of America-Theodore Roosevelt Council, The Long Island Housing Partnership, and the Community Development Corporation of Long Island. “His leadership also included service in such national roles as being a member of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/Aids, chairman of the Board of the National Black
see CALVIN BUTTS on page 5
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