Former Virginia Tech President Bill Lavery died Monday night. He had served as president from 1975 to 1987.
As an English major in the late 1970s, David Hogge had little reason to rub shoulders with William Lavery. But Hogge's early-morning trips to Williams Hall brought him into nearly daily contact with Lavery, Tech's president from 1975 to 1987.
"I happened to cross paths with Dr. Lavery and he was always a cheerful fellow, he would always ask how you were doing," said Hogge, who graduated in 1977 and is now a freelance writer in Richmond.
Lavery, who at 78 died of complications from a five-month struggle with esophageal cancer Monday night in New River Valley Medical Center, was widely described by friends and colleagues as both a great leader and a warm, gregarious human being with a keen interest in how those around him were doing.
"Bill Lavery was genuinely a nice guy," said Ray Smoot, university treasurer and chief operating officer of the Virginia Tech Foundation. "You hear the term, 'He's a nice guy,' a lot. This guy was what you saw was what you got. There was no put-on for Bill Lavery."
Lavery's tenure saw the opening of the Cranwell International Center, the creation of the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, the founding of the Corporate Research Center and the expansion of faculty research, pushing Tech into the top 50 research insitutions at the time. While it ended with the hiring of head football coach Frank Beamer in 1987, Lavery also faced strong criticism for an academic scandal that shook the university's athletic community and for his handling of a land-swap where the university exchanged 247 acres of land along US 460 for a 1,700-acre tract of farmland. It was the backlash generated by these two incidents that eventually led Lavery to step down Dec. 31, 1987.
Jim McComas, Lavery's successor who died in 1994, was gracious in his regard for his predecessor. It was this gesture that both confirmed Lavery's legacy and eased his transition from the presidency.
"(Lavery) held his head high and he transitioned very effectively and was definitely embraced by Jim McComas. Jim didn't lose an opportunity to cite Bill's achievements," said Tom Tillar, vice president for alumni relations. "It pleased everyone here that Bill stayed as an active member of the community and of the university and was involved in things."
While many thought the criticism severe, Lavery's devotion to the institution kept him in Blacksburg.
Ending his connection to Virginia Tech, "wasn't his nature," said Smoot, who first met Lavery when Smoot was president of the student government association in 1979 and Lavery was vice president for finance under President T. Marshall Hahn. "He couldn't walk away from it. He just had too much regard for it."
In his post-presidential years, Lavery served as the William B. Preston Professor of International Affairs until 1991 and was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to the U. S. Agency for International Development's advisory committee, among other roles.
Leave a comment 0 Comments Write a letter to the editor
All letters to the editor must include a name, e-mail, daytime phone number and affiliation to Virginia Tech. Affiliation includes: year and major for students; position and department for faculty and staff; current city for alumni and parents.