Florida State University President Emeritus Bernard F. Sliger has died at age 83. Sliger, who served as the university's 10th president, will be remembered as much for his easygoing nature and love of students as the forward-thinking leadership he provided during a long period of unprecedented growth at the university.
"Dr. Sliger was one of FSU's most outstanding presidents," said President T.K. Wetherell. "He promoted higher academic standards and the growth of each faculty member, staff person and student. But for Bernie Sliger, FSU would not be the institution it is today. He was a special person with a unique combination of intelligence and enthusiasm. There will never be another Bernie."
Sliger served as president from 1977 to 1991 after serving four years as the university's executive vice president and chief academic officer. The popular leader was asked to return to the helm as interim president after his successor Dale Lick resigned in 1993. Sliger served in that capacity until Talbot "Sandy" D'Alemberte became president in 1994.
"Bernie was my friend before I worked for him," D'Alemberte said. "In all my dealings with him, I knew him as a very smart man without pretensions, rare enough around a university, but rarer still was his great humanity and love for people. He was a great president of FSU, a man without enemies, and everyone who knew him will be sad."
During Sliger's tenure, student enrollment increased by nearly one-third, the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory was awarded to FSU, and the university acquired three supercomputers. He put the establishment of the FAMU/FSU College of Engineering high on his list of major achievements, and the acquisition of the Panama City Campus was also a point of pride. In addition, FSU rose to the pinnacle of intercollegiate athletics and joined the Atlantic Coast Conference; funding was approved for the multimillion-dollar University Center; and the idea for the College of Medicine was first explored.
Following his retirement, Sliger served at FSU as the director of the Gus A. Stavros Center for the Advancement of Free Enterprise and Economic Education and as a professor of economics.
Earlier this year, FSU honored Sliger at its Heritage Day celebration with a special video tribute and the unveiling of a bronze statue of him created by FSU alumna Melinda Cooper.
Best known simply as "Bernie," Sliger was much loved by the university community. His self-effacing manner belied a keen intellect and a serious scholar highly regarded as an economist. Sliger was famous during his presidency for his walks across campus and his casual appearance—a linen shirt and trousers—that matched his easy-going manner with students, faculty and staff.
"He was probably the most amiable person I ever met," said Professor of Physics Emeritus and former Dean of the Faculties Steve Edwards. "He was extremely easygoing. Right away you felt like an old friend of his."
In fact, he was widely regarded as friend of students and faculty alike. He started the President's Ice Cream Social, a tradition that continues today as a way to spend time with students in an informal way.
"He had the students over to his backyard, and he'd play volleyball or Frisbee with them and the students just loved it," Edwards said. "They were going to Bernie's house."
Edwards, who served on the Faculty Steering Committee when Sliger first came to FSU as an executive vice president, remembered that meeting with the committee was one of the first things he did.
"It was obvious he was really a friend of the faculty, and he made that clear later when he became president," Edwards recalled. "Making sure the faculty were taken care of was important to him. He understood the importance of faculty morale to the mission of the university as a research institution."
He started the named professorships for faculty as a way to increase salaries and boost morale.
A native of Trout Creek, Mich., Sliger held three degrees—a bachelor's, master's and doctorate—from Michigan State University, all in economics.
Born Sept. 30, 1924, he began his educational career as an instructor in Michigan's Interior Township Schools in 1947. He taught at FSU, Michigan State, Louisiana State and Southern universities.
He spent 19 years as a faculty member and administrator at Louisiana State University, during which he served as head of the economics department, member and chairman of the graduate council, dean of academic affairs and vice chancellor. He served a year as the state of Louisiana's secretary of administration and then organized the Louisiana Coordinating Council for Higher Education, becoming its executive director from 1969 to 1972.
An economist and scholar in the special field of economic theory and public finance, he frequently served as consultant to private and public commissions and organizations. In Florida, Sliger served as chairman of Gov. Reubin Askew's Economic Advisory Council in 1976-77 and was appointed by the Florida Legislature as a member of the Academic Task Force for Review of the Insurance and Tort System in 1986-88. In Louisiana, he was a member and chief consultant of the Governor of Louisiana's Tax Study Committee in 1968 and chaired a special committee appointed by the Legislature to study the Louisiana Department of Revenue.
He served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta from 1983 to 1988 and was a member of the American College Testing Board of Trustees from 1981 to 1987, serving as chairman from 1985 to 1987.
He served as a member of many national organizations, including the Southeastern Universities Research Association; Universities Research Association, Executive Committee, and Board of Trustees; National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges; American Council on Education, ACE Labor/Higher Education Council; International Association of University Presidents; Council on Competitiveness; and the Joint Council on Economic Education Board of Trustees.
He served as a member of the following state and local organizations: the Florida and Tallahassee Chambers of Commerce; Florida TaxWatch, Inc.; Florida Economics Club; Florida Chapter of the Nature Conservancy Board of Trustees (chairman, 1990-91); Florida Association of Colleges and Universities Board of Directors; and the Florida Council of 100. Civic activities include Springtime Tallahassee (Parade Grand Marshal in 1989), Tallahassee Kiwanis Club and the Capital Tiger Bay Club.
In 1987, Sliger was appointed to a four-year term on the NCAA Presidents Commission. He chaired the commission's ad hoc committee on the national forum in 1988 charged with planning and implementing a series of NCAA national meetings on student athletes. In 1989, he was named chair of NCAA Division 1-A, chair of the Presidential Nominating Committee of the Presidents Commission and a member of the NCAA Special Committee on Cost Reduction. In 1990, he was named chair of NCAA Division 1.
Sliger is survived by his wife, Greta, and four children.