Samuel Capen, a symbol of intellectual vitality and personal charisma

To a couple of generations of UB alums, the legendary Samuel P. Capen, who led the university wisely and well from 1922 to 1950, is just that-a legend.

But Capen is much more than a figure in history to students who attended UB during that period: they remember his elegant manner and eloquent speech as if it were yesterday. And although most alumni think of him as a very formal person, they have stories to tell about his graciousness and kindness to students.

"Chancellor Capen had seen me as an undergrad and later in my office in Hayes Hall," says Bernice (Cohen) Burros, who graduated magna cum laude in 1945 with a B.A. in math, earned an M.A. in math from Columbia University and completed course requirements at UB for an Ed.D. in math education. She served on the UB faculty for about five years, teaching math statistics. Samuel Capen was known as "a very fine man, a gentleman. I saw him two or three times a week," she says.

Her most vivid memory of him came during the radio address that announced the United States' entrance into World War II.

"I shall never forget standing next to him at 'old' Norton Union while listening to the Declaration of War and the dead silence that followed.

"The entire student body, faculty and staff were there. It was about noon-lunchtime, but nobody ate lunch that day," Burros said.

"The President made the announcement on the radio and everyone was very sad, very emotional," she said. "The fellows standing there knew where they were going."

Burros recalls Chancellor Capen as "a very stoic type of person." But that day, she says, "We both listened very carefully and I watched his expression: he was just bewildered-everyone else was, too-we looked at each other and he nodded."

Phyllis Kelly, B.A. '42, also recalls Capen's comforting presence as America entered the war. Editor of the 1942 Buffalonian, Kelly said the staff hastily revamped the content just before the printing deadline because of Pearl Harbor. "We dedicated the yearbook to the students in service or about to enter the service.

"Dr. Capen had the respect, admiration, and gratitude, not only of the students but also of the entire community," Kelly said. His moral and intellectual leadership, she said, helped students cope with the sudden shift from academics and fun to the "devastating" aftermath of Pearl Harbor. "On hearing the news, many of the women students cried, because they had boyfriends or brothers who, as was required, had signed up for the draft in 1940. Students came to school that Monday in disbelief." Still, Kelly, who went on to work for Republican Party causes at local, state and national levels, recalls the rest of her senior year as a time of campus unity, a spirit encouraged by Capen's words and deeds. "All of the students were most patriotic and wanted to help their country."

"Dr. Capen didn't talk a lot but when he did, you knew he had something to say," says Joe Kemp, who earned a B.S. in management in 1947. Kemp retired in 1984 as president of a division of Gulf & Western Industries Inc. and now works as a consultant.

"I had gotten to know Dr. Capen very well," says Kemp. "He was very formal, thin-with a goatee-very distinguished-looking.

"Dr. Capen knew my mother was a Thorn," he said, "and George Thorn was a big deal, the most outstanding student in the first 100 years." (Dr. Thorn, a pioneer in the treatment of kidney disease, is professor emeritus at Harvard Medical School and Peter Bent Brigham Hospital and chairman emeritus of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which he helped establish.)

"I had told the chancellor that Thorn was my second cousin," says Kemp, who worked on UB's 1946 Centennial Fund committee as chairman of the alumni division.

At the Centennial celebration at the Hotel Statler, where George Thorn received a Centennial award, Kemp remembers receiving special recognition from Chancellor Capen. "Thorn was at the speakers' table with John Lord O'Brian and the mayor of Buffalo," Kemp said. "Dr. Capen invited me to sit at the head table."

"We respected Chancellor Capen for who he was and for the part he played in student government and campus activities," says Jane Noller Turner, B.A. '47 & M.A. '50. Turner, who retired after a 22-year career as a teacher at the Buffalo Seminary, has a view of Capen as "personable, friendly-someone you looked up to." Intimidating? "We were more intimidated by Emily Webster, his secretary," she says. "We had to pass by her to get to see him.

"I was on the board of managers for Norton and I have memories of going to his office-meeting on a one-to-one basis-maybe it was friendship, maybe a relationship with students. When we had a meeting in his office, he introduced everyone all around.

"When we got our diplomas, I remember shaking hands with the chancellor. He had his own reception for the graduates-he was there-he made sure you were meeting people-he realized how much the student body meant," says Turner.