[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 6 (Tuesday, February 1, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: February 1, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                     TRIBUTE TO DR. J. WAYNE REITZ

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Volkmer). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Florida, Mr. Stearns is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to pay tribute to one 
of the finest men I have ever met, and one of the most important men in 
the history of our Nation's great universities--Dr. J. Wayne Reitz, 
president emeritus of the University of Florida. His passing, on 
Christmas Eve, 1993, was a tremendous loss for his family, the 
university and the many people who knew him well.
  For more than 60 years, Dr. Reitz sat on the faculty of the 
University of Florida, and from 1955 to 1967, he served as president of 
the university. He is widely credited with leading that institution to 
the forefront of our Nation's schools of higher learning.
  His achievements at the university were many. Under his leadership, 
UF flourished, making great strides in research, faculty quality, 
student achievement, facilities and contributions to the larger 
community. And, he guided the university peacefully through the years 
of desegregation with graciousness and fairness. Largely by the example 
he set, an historic injustice was corrected, and the university truly 
became one with all the people of our State.
  It would be a mistake, however, when counting the accomplishments of 
Dr. Wayne Reitz, to look only at his 12 years of service as president 
of the institution.
  For he accomplished much before and much after those years of 
service. I have met virtually every one of his successors, and each one 
stressed that his contributions to the university continued until the 
day the God he so strongly believed in called him home.
  In the years after his retirement, Dr. Reitz served as president 
emeritus of the University of Florida. But, I believe that the current 
president of the university John Lombardi described his role better 
when he called him ``the Spirit of the University.''
  Dr. Reitz was a living dictionary of virtues--decency, 
accomplishment, humility, graciousness, kindness, fairness and 
optimism. He served as a model for what a man, a university, and a 
community should strive for. He was a man of conscience and a strong 
moral compass.
  I had the good fortune to get to know Dr. J. Wayne Reitz well in the 
last 5 years of his life. And, I can honestly say that it was an honor 
to have been able to call him my friend and to have served as his 
representative.
  Dr. Reitz and I did not always agree on every question we discussed, 
but I have known few men with whom it could be such a pleasure to 
sometimes disagree. More often than not, however, I found his views to 
be words of wisdom, and I know that he made me a better public servant.
  I would hardly do Wayne Reitz justice, though, if I left anyone with 
the impression that the man was some type of idealistic academician. 
Because one of Wayne's greatest virtues was his simplicity and down-to-
Earth manner.
  At his funeral, one of Wayne's oldest friends, George Caranasos, read 
from a letter from Dr. Reitz to a geriatrician who asked him what his 
secret was to his high level of vigor, interest, and activity in life.
  Dr. Reitz responded, listing 12 short points. None was mystical or 
the product of an elaborate theory, but rather all were practical and 
applicable to all our lives.
  I would like to share these points with the House, in the hope that 
we can all benefit from his wisdom.

       1. Have a wife to love and adore, who looks after your 
     welfare and provides a home of peace and beauty. Keep close 
     to your children even though they are no longer home.
       2. Arise regularly and take more than a mile walk before 
     breakfast, preferably every day, but at least four times a 
     week. A great time to do this is near sunrise when the birds 
     are singing.
       3. Have more to do each day than can get done.
       4. Be active in a church even if you cannot support totally 
     its theology.
       5. The things you do should involve goals and the support 
     of causes which cannot be achieved in a lifetime as well as 
     assistance to and concern for community needs, friends and 
     others.
       6. Save some time to work in the garden because the 
     companionship of plants has much to offer.
       7. Read widely, enjoy good music and keep abreast of 
     national and international affairs, and do not spend too much 
     time in front of the TV.
       8. View life positively and look for the good in people 
     rather than their limitations.
       9. Cherish and enjoy the company of friends.
       10. Follow a balanced diet and be ever moderate in eating 
     and drinking.
       11. Maintain a sense of humor.
       and 12. Take a modest amount of time to enjoy outdoor 
     recreation, such as playing golf, hunting or fishing.

  Last, I would like to quote the 121st psalm which the many who 
gathered at Dr. Reitz funeral read together. It speaks our fondest 
prayers for this man who gave us so much:

     I lift up my eyes to the hills--
     from where will my help come?
     My help comes from the Lord,
     who made heaven and earth.
     He will not let your foot be moved;
     he who keeps you will not slumber.
     He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
     The Lord is your keeper;
     the Lord is your shade at your right hand.
     The sun shall not strike you by day,
     nor the moon by night.
     The Lord will keep you from all evil;
     he will keep your life.
     The Lord will keep your going out
     and your coming in
     from this time on and forevermore.

           Who Now Speaks for the Spirit of This University?


                       J. Wayne Reitz (1908-1993)

       When we came to Gainesville, we recognized immediately that 
     this university has a different spirit, a different character 
     than its peers. In most ways, America's great public 
     universities share the same features: many students, 
     beautiful campuses, quality faculty, excellent facilities, 
     lively campus and cultural lives, and often college towns. We 
     in Gainesville have all these.
       Even so, this place has a different quality about it. Our 
     enthusiasm for the university and its work seems greater, our 
     anger and resentments muted; our optimism seems stronger, our 
     aspirations higher, our compassion deeper. The faculty, 
     assembled from the best the nation can provide, give us 
     strength and intellectual depth; the staff, committed to the 
     university's mission, give us support; the students, drawn 
     from the most optimistic state in the nation, give us hope 
     and energy; but how, I wondered, does all this produce our 
     special character?
       Then I met J. Wayne Reitz. Formal, gracious, charming, and 
     low key, Wayne demonstrated the sense of purpose and the core 
     values that symbolize for me what is so powerfully attractive 
     about the University of Florida. My continuing conversation 
     with J. Wayne Reitz over almost four years contained no 
     secrets, no special knowledge, nothing but the core values of 
     a great university. A treasury of stories and anecdotes, of 
     the living history of this university as it began its 
     expansion into the ranks of major American public 
     universities, J. Wayne Reitz saw this place not so much with 
     the analytical eye of the empire builder as with the 
     enthusiasm of the inventor.
       Of course he understood about academic quality, about 
     student quality, about the need for buildings, support, 
     libraries, and a dynamic campus and community life. Of course 
     he knew about the finances of the university and the need to 
     insert this provincial institution into the mainstream of 
     American and international academic affairs. Of course he 
     hired good faculty, supported the development of the 
     university's fundamentally critical research base, and 
     brought the university into the contemporary mainstream of 
     academic and intellectual affairs.
       For eleven years his work on these fundamental university 
     issues reinvented us as a place of substance and created the 
     opportunities for his successors to move this university into 
     the top rank of American public universities. Were that his 
     only contribution, we would celebrate his achievements with 
     enduring enthusiasm.
                                                Dr. John Lombardi,
     President, University of Florida.

                          ____________________