Acknowledgments

MOST OF ALL, I am forever indebted to Vicki T. Hurwitz, my best friend and loving wife for more than fifty-five years, the devoted mother of Bernard and Stephanie, and the devoted grandmother to our grandchildren Susan Juliette and Ethan. Vicki was instrumental in helping me wade through the large collection of pictures, articles, publications, and memories that were shared with us by our families, friends, and professional colleagues. Being a pack rat, I saved most of the papers and documents from my nearly forty years at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology and my six years as president of Gallaudet University. I also saved a great deal of material from my involvement in community organizations.

I am grateful to individuals at Gallaudet University who helped me write this memoir. Ivey Wallace, my editor at Gallaudet University Press, was patient with my being a novice book author, and she gave me a lot of helpful tips to improve my writing. Michael Olson, the now-retired head archivist at Gallaudet, and his staff were invaluable in organizing the papers I donated to the Gallaudet University Archives. I am indebted to Vicki, Stacy Lawrence, Mark Benjamin, NTID’s photographer, Emily Hopkins, and Lezlie “Zhee” Chatmon, a Gallaudet University photographer, who were very helpful in locating photographs for the memoir. Deirdre Mullervy, the managing editor, and Katie Lee, the acquisitions editor, at Gallaudet University Press, were very helpful with preparing the photographs for the manuscript. Angela Leppig, the director of the press, was helpful with the marketing aspects of the book. Credit also goes to the RIT Digital Archives for digitizing photos of my years at RIT/NTID.

I also want to thank Don Beil, Paul Ogden, Harry Lang, and my family for making themselves available to discuss and critique my ideas for the memoir.

I often have been asked to name the role models and mentors who influenced me during my early years as well as in my adult life. I can honestly say there are too many to mention here, but they all have my thanks and gratitude. I cherish the opportunities I had to work with many different people and to hire direct reports who were smarter and more experienced than me. I sincerely believe that over the years, because of these folks, I developed strong listening skills that allowed me to work collaboratively with diverse individuals. Many of these role models and mentors are mentioned throughout the memoir.