A Legacy of Connection

Marc Adler wore a giant birthday cake hat to teach class on his 65th birthday.

The oversized plush hat, complete with candles on top, drew smiles and birthday shoutouts from students and strangers alike as he walked across the North Campus. But for Adler, the greetings weren’t enough.

“He’d say, ‘Let’s take a selfie,’” recalls his wife, Lisa. “It wasn’t just, ‘thank you’ back. He was saying, ‘You recognized me, you acknowledged me and I want a picture of us together.’” By the end of the day, Adler had accumulated dozens of photos from colleagues, students and people he had never met before.

For those who know him, the moment captured exactly who Marc Adler was. “He made you feel special,” Lisa says. “It wasn’t about Marc. It was always about you.”

For decades, Adler has been one of UB's most recognizable and enthusiastic ambassadors. Whether in a classroom, a board meeting or the stands at a Bulls game, he had a gift for making people feel seen, valued and connected.

Now, as Adler lives with frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, the UB community is rallying around him in the same way he spent years rallying around others.

This spring, alumni, colleagues and friends established the Marc A. Adler Undergraduate Scholarship in the School of Management, which will support undergraduate marketing students with a passion for athletics or sports marketing.

Just weeks after its launch, the effort raised more than $200,000. “It feels like he’s getting the recognition he deserves,” says Rabbi Sara Rich, a longtime friend who first met Adler when he co-chaired the search committee that brought her to UB Hillel. “People immediately recognized it as the perfect expression of what he cared about—students, marketing and creating opportunities.”

Adler’s connection to UB began as a student and continued for decades. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the College of Arts and Sciences in 1979, an MBA in 1982, a master’s degree in 1983 and completed the Core program through UB’s Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership in 2008.

He served as president of both the UB Alumni Association and the School of Management Alumni Association board of directors, taught marketing for decades as an adjunct instructor and remained a devoted supporter of UB Athletics, rarely missing a football or basketball contest. He and Lisa were familiar faces at games for years.

“At games, it was like Marc was a celebrity,” Lisa says. “The amount of high-fives and fist bumps and hugs, it felt like he knew half the arena.”

Originally from Brooklyn, Adler came to Buffalo as a UB student and never left. “He stayed for UB,” Lisa says simply.

That devotion extended well beyond campus. Adler spent decades working in Buffalo-area marketing agencies before founding Why Not Marketing LLC, in 2012. He also served in leadership roles with organizations including the Buffalo Zoo, UB Hillel and the Buffalo Jewish Federation.

“Whenever there was a project and people needed to think about marketing, the answer was always, ‘Call Marc,’” Rabbi Rich says. 

But the titles and leadership roles tell only part of the story; it was his teaching where he left an indelible mark. Former students agree: Adler’s greatest gift was his ability to connect with people.

On the first day of class every semester, Lisa says, Adler insisted on learning where every student was from; not just the city, but the specific town or neighborhood. “For Marc, each person was a story,” she says. “He cared.” 

That intense sense of curiosity left a lasting impression on students like Jerome Singletary, who says Adler taught lessons that extended far beyond marketing. “Marc knew and taught that positive relationships were more important than anything you could learn from a textbook,” Singletary says. “He would always say, ‘You never know where your next opportunity may come from,’ and he truly lived and taught that motto.”

Singletary says Adler constantly encouraged students to engage with the community around them, whether through charity drives, local businesses or UB Athletics. “Seeing Marc’s passion for UB and Western New York as a whole has driven me to make sure I am always pouring back into my community,” he says.

During a small scholarship presentation at UB in March, Lisa says, “Marc had his ‘A’ game on. For that hour he was engaged and seemed more like himself.” 

Those closest to Adler say the scholarship ensures his impact—and his legacy—will continue for future generations of UB students. “He always wanted to make a difference for his students,” Lisa says. “This scholarship will give somebody an opportunity to get an education and make something of themselves.”

For Singletary, Adler’s influence is already impossible to measure. “To this day, I still use lessons Marc taught me,” he says. “He shaped my career in ways I never could have imagined when I first walked into his classroom.”

And for countless alumni, colleagues and friends, the legacy Adler built through decades of teaching, mentoring and showing up for others remains unmistakably clear.

“He was a giver,” Lisa says. “He looked forward to every day—what he could do that day, what he could give to people that day.”

For those who wish to honor Adler’s legacy, contributions to the Marc A. Adler Undergraduate Scholarship will help future students build the same spirit of connection and community that defined his life. Donations can be made here.