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September 24, 2003
Message from Dr. Mabry
Regent A.W."Dub" Riter, Jr. Passes
Faculty and Staff—
It is with great sadness that I report the death of Regent A. W. “Dub” Riter, Jr. Regent Riter lost his battle with a chronic illness last night and told his family over the last days that he was ready to meet his Creator. Our heartfelt condolences go out to his family, his beautiful wife, B. J., and their children, Whit and Melinda, and their families.
It would be hard for me to capture or even describe all of the ways that Dub has impacted this university. The visible Riter Carillon and Tower come to mind easily, and they are important symbols of U. T. Tyler’s current stature and future greatness, but his loving handprint was on almost every campus project we have undertaken in recent years. He pushed very hard behind the scenes for PUF funds to help build the Cowan Center, the Longview Center, the Patriot Center, the Braithwaite Building for nursing, and the coming engineering and sciences building. The Riters have given presidential scholarships, anonymous engineering scholarships, other scholarships and they have given constantly—many times each year—to help pay for development dinners, various lunches, flowers in our landscaped areas, or myriad small projects in order to conserve your university’s scarce funds for teaching and other purposes.
As much as the Riters have given, I want you to know that our respect and love is not about the money. Dub was a passionate and true supporter of U. T. Tyler, telling everyone wherever he went how good we are. In addition, he simply cared about us. There was no meeting too small for him to attend - no matter how busy his schedule was. He came to our graduations—all of them. He came to our alumni meetings and business school honorary ceremonies and development board meetings and more. The last call I received from him was the morning of the Herrington Patriot Center dedication when he mustered enough strength to wish us well on that special Friday. He would have been here if he had been able.
The next to last call I had from him was about two weeks ago, the night before he headed over to Dallas for additional tests about his condition. It was such a typical call. He asked me to take care of two or three details on projects we had under way and then he ended the conversation with: “Now, Rod, what can I do for you?”
In a few weeks, we will have a memorial ceremony for which the campus will be invited to share their thoughts about Regent Riter. Today, I ask that you join Merle and me as we extend our sympathy to the Riter family. Please take time to tell some of this to our students and explain why the funeral bell is tolling today in his honor.
Rod
“The work an unknown good man has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground green.” [Thomas Carlyle – 1795-1881]
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The
University of Texas at Tyler
3900 University Blvd., Tyler, TX 75799 Tel: (903) 566-7000 |
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