SUNY Old Westbury President Emeritus Calvin O. Butts III passed away peacefully on Friday, October 28 in New York City. He was 73.
Dr. Butts began at SUNY OW in September of 1999 and retired in August 2020. Besides being SUNY OW’s president for almost 21 years, he was the college’s longest serving president. In addition, he served for some fifty years until his death as pastor at the renowned Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City.
Dr. Timothy Sams, the current president of SUNY OW, wrote in an email that Dr.Butts was “a lifelong, iconic New Yorker…who had a pervasive impact on such wide-ranging community development initiatives as education, homelessness, senior citizen and youth empowerment, cultural awareness and ecumenical outreach.”
Dr. Sams added: “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.”
Dr.Sams noted: “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 included 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.
Dr. Butts 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, according to the university’s website.
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 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 a member of the board of the September 11th Fund.
In the wake of Dr. Butts passing, he has been remembered by many of New York’s political leaders, including New York Attorney General Letitia James and Governor Kathy Hochul, as well as many institutions, students, and peers that remember him with great fondness.
The Reverend Al Sharpton had this to say about Dr. Butts passing, according to NBC New York, “Rev. Butts was a major pillar in the Harlem community and is irreplaceable. He was a dominant faith and academic leader for decades. We spoke as late as a couple of weeks ago about this work, as he was still fighting cancer. He will be tremendously missed.”
Dr. Butts will be remembered with the highest esteem by the SUNY OW community for his leadership, inspiration and service that he gave to students, faculty, and the New York community.
“The wide scale effect of his lifelong calling to serve others is incalculable,” said Dr. Sams on the SUNY OW website. “His life was 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.”
