SAU mourns the loss of former president

April 7, 2005
By Jenna Stevens
Staff Writer

On March 17, 2005, former St. Ambrose University President William J. Bakrow passed away after a long struggle with progressive supranuclear palsy.

Dr. Bakrow came to St. Ambrose University after earning his doctorate degree from Indiana University and serving as president of the Motorola Executive Institute in Arizona.

Dr. Bakrow was St. Ambrose’s eleventh president and came to the school during one of its most difficult times.

President Rogalski said at the time of his arrival St. Ambrose was in need of an individual with excellent leader ships skills.

“We had just come out of a disappointing opportunity to merge with Marycrest College,” Rogalski said.

Dr. Bakrow was selected out of over one hundred applicants and during his time at St. Ambrose he managed to clear away a two million dollar short-term debt and find the funding to construct the Galvin Fine Arts Center.

One of Dr. Bakrow’s favorite saying was that, “St. Ambrose was a good university becoming a great one,” which seemed to be the message that Dr. Bakrow sent out to his students and staff while making great strides in increasing enrollment.

After his retirement in 1987, he moved to Massachusetts where he served as interim president for both Endicott College and the Montserrat College of Art, while running a consulting business on the side.

In 1991 his wife Maree died and he remarried in 1993 to a woman named Jean Brown. The couple resided in Massachusetts. Funeral services were held in Rockport, Massachusetts.

A separate memorial mass was held on campus on Thursday, March 31.

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