DATE: October 28, 2022
TO: The SUNY Old Westbury Campus Community
FROM: Timothy E. Sams, President
RE: Passing of President Emeritus Calvin O. Butts, III
Good morning to the SUNY Old Westbury Campus Community,
I write with sadness this morning to report the passing of President Emeritus Dr. Calvin O. Butts, III. President Butts passed away peacefully early this morning in New York City.
Details concerning services in his honor are in development. We will be certain to share that information when it becomes available.
I had the pleasure of engaging with Dr. Butts a few times since my arrival on campus. I was, and always will remain, impressed not only by his love for this institution and its people, but for his belief in the powerful role SUNY Old Westbury must play in providing access to a high-quality education and for its historic commitment to social justice. Further, I have always held him in the highest regard for his work as a civil rights leader whose contributions places him in American history books.
The longest-serving president in the institution’s history, Dr. Butts joined the College in September 1999 and retired from service in August 2020. Along with his nearly 21-year career at SUNY Old Westbury, he served until his death as pastor at the renowned Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City, an institution he served for some 50 years.
A lifelong, iconic New Yorker, Dr. Butts, through his actions and leadership, had a pervasive impact on such wide-ranging community development initiatives as education, homelessness, senior citizen and youth empowerment, cultural awareness and ecumenical outreach.
The widescale effect of his lifelong calling to serve others is incalculable. From his early efforts at community development in New York City to his powerful remarks at Yankee Stadium after 9/11, to his most recent work advocating nationally for COVID-19 vaccination within the African American community, the strength of his voice and power of his conviction brought people together to make positive change for those who need it most.
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, Dr. Butts 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.
Dr. Butts’ 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 Leadership Commission on AIDS (NBLCA) and a founding member of its Board of Commissioners, co-chair of the African American Men and Boys Initiative (AAMB), president of Africare NYC, and as a member of the board of the September 11th Fund.
The above seems to me to be the tip of the iceberg regarding Dr. Butts’ work and impact. I’m confident enough to say that Dr. Calvin O. Butts, III, was a pivotal figure in the contemporary history of New York City and of our institution. As president of SUNY Old Westbury, I am fortunate to be following a leader who has poured immeasurably into our institution. As a freedom-loving person, I am blessed to have had a giant of a leader like Dr. Calvin O. Butts, III offer his life to the work of advancing civil and human rights. Our world is better because of his commitment, brilliance, courage and his spiritually inspired love for humanity.
On this sad occasion, I encourage everyone to draw strength from Dr. Butts’ life and once again resolve to make SUNY Old Westbury a beacon for inclusive communities, and our impact upon the world significant. His was a life lived in the service of others. While his loss is saddening, I hope we can all use it also as a call to continue the life-changing work he did on so many important issues.
Finally, our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, his church and all whose life was touched by his tremendous humanity.
Thank you,
Timothy Sams
President