Friends Recall SUNY Oneonta Chronicler
Dr. Carey W. Brush, 1920-2013
By LIBBY CUDMORE • HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Edition of Friday, Dec. 19, 2014
At Dr. Carey Brush’s memorial service on Friday, Dec. 12, the truth finally came out: “His jokes were terrible,” said Dr. Vince Foti. “But because we were all below him, we laughed. Puns were his favorite.”
It has been almost a year since Dr. Brush, 93, who wrote “In Honor and Good Faith” (1965), the first history of SUNY Oneonta, died on Dec. 29, 2013, in Vancouver, Wash., where he and his wife Tinker lived. His wife declined to post an obituary, so many of his friends didn’t know he had passed.
“After six months, we realized there wouldn’t be a service here,” said Foti. “So we put one together.”
Dr. Brush was professor and acting chair of Social Sciences. He was named the first director of Liberal Studies in 1963, and vice president for Academic Affairs in 1970. He was acting president during the 1987-88 academic year, between the administrations of Clifford Craven and Alan Donovan.
“I never had an opportunity to meet him, but I feel like I knew him,” said President Nancy Kleniewski, the first speaker at the memorial service. “Before I arrived, I read every word of his books, and it helped me to understand the importance of this college.”
“He is best remembered for overseeing the transition from a teacher’s college to a liberal arts institution,” said Foti. “He took great pride in developing the liberal arts program, and each new major was like a member of his family.”
“I often asked myself what it was that made him so special,” said Dr. Ernest Goodman, emeritus professor of political science. “It was that he had a mixture of reserve and warm responsiveness.”
The service was originally slated to take place in the Alden Room of the Milne Library, where his portrait hangs and where much of his research was done, but due to finals, it was moved to the Craven Lounge. “You can’t think of Cliff Craven without thinking of Carey,” said Frank O’Mara, emeritus professor of communications. “It’s appropriate to have it here.”
“I thought I heard his footsteps earlier,” said Dr. William Simons, professor of history. “It’s final exams, and he used to walk to halls during exam week.”
His friends and colleagues also spoke with affection about his slow softball pitches and his seriousness at the poker table.
“I considered Carey a friend, but there were two places he had no friends – the softball field and the poker table,” said Foti. “He was the manager, coach and pitcher, but he pitched so slow you could count the stitches on the ball!”
But it was Lief Hartmark, retired vice president for finance and administration, who recounted a notorious pun. Hartmark bought a house in Fly Creek from a Dr. Dyer, who Brush also knew. “It was on a creek, so the house itself looked like it was on a little island. Carey asked about it, and then said, ‘Well, I guess you’re living in Dyer Straits!’”
A plaque will be installed beneath Brush’s portrait in the library. Dr. David Brenner, emeritus associate vice president of academic affairs, said the idea was to be positive and reflective. “Take a moment to think about him and what he did for this university.”
“He was the backbone of this college,” said Foti.