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Calvin O. Butts, III, the president emeritus of the State University at Old Westbury and civil rights leader, died Friday. He was 73.
An influential pastor who considered former President Bill Clinton a friend, Butts was also the longest-serving president of SUNY Old Westbury. His tenure at the college ran from September 1999 through August 2020, when he retired. He also spent the last served as the pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, where Adam Clayton Powell, Sr., and later, his son Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., had previously served as pastors.
In a tweet this morning, Abyssinian Baptist said: “It is with profound sadness, we announce the passing of our beloved pastor, Reverend Dr. Calvin O. Butts, lll, who peacefully transitioned in the early morning of October 28, 2022. The Butts Family & entire Abyssinian Baptist Church membership solicit your prayers.”
Butts is credited with transforming the college, boosting higher admissions standards. Under his reign, the school grew from a reported enrollment of 2,995 in 2000 to, according to the university in 2019, a current total enrollment of 5,128.
Butts was proud of his work at SUNY Old Westbury.
“We’ve accomplished a great deal across 20 years,” he told LIBN upon his retirement. He said his team “got the college to a place where it is on par with the best schools in the SUNY system. We’ve taken away the notion that it’s first a school for black people … We provide access and affordability to all people who would not otherwise be able to afford a college education. It’s open to all citizens.”
And he took pride in working with leaders across the political aisle.
“On Long Island, you’ve got to,” he told LIBN. “There’s so much more we can do here. Keep improving on your last improvement.
Under his leadership, SUNY Old Westbury received national and international recognition, including presidential honors for nine consecutive years for its academically-embedded civic engagement program for first-time-to-college students, according to the college. SUNY Old Westbury was recognized each year by U.S. News and World Report for the diversity of its student body, upholding the campus’ 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.
Butts was active with the Long Island business community. He served 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.
He was also a member of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/Aids, chairman of the Board of the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS and a founding member of its Board of Commissioners, co-chair of the African American Men and Boys Initiative, president of Africare NYC, and as a member of the board of the September 11th Fund.
“I had the pleasure of engaging with Dr. Butts a few times since my arrival on campus,” said Timothy Sams, who succeeded Butts when he assumed the presidency of SUNY Old Westbury in January 2021. “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.”
