13 August 2004
Robert G. Wilmers
Remarks on receiving an honorary doctorate
M&T president Robert G. Wilmers made these remarks when University at Buffalo presented him with an honorary doctorate at its 158th general commencement ceremony, May 9, 2004. Before he spoke someone else spoke about his career in television. Other speechifiers speechified about a lot of things. Only Wilmers spoke of the importance of a university in a community, this university in this community.
Chairman Egan, honored guests, fellow graduates, ladies and gentlemen, I feel very humble standing up here in front of you all today. I feel particularly inadequate. I’ve never been on prime television. I’ve never raised money to be on prime television. I’ve never had any ambitions to be on prime television. It’s been more than twenty years since I came to Buffalo. It was business, not education or chicken wings that drew me. I’m the first to admit that I didn’t know the city all that well. In the years since, that has changed.The charms of the City of Good neighbors, not always well-appreciated elsewhere, have come to be an important part of my life. Its architecture, its museums, its parks and most importantly, its people. As I grew committed to Buffalo, I became committed as well to the idea that the city could recover its past glory, discover new purposes, and find a future as important as its past. I’ve tried to the extent that I could to help it move forward on what we all know will be a difficult road. Individual efforts, however, are necessary, but not sufficient.
Anyone who hopes and dreams for the city must inevitably look toward UB. Talk to any mayor, county executive, or city planner who understands the workings of urban economies, and you’ll be told that a great university is among the greatest advantages a city can have. No city can thrive anymore without an educated workforce. And no city can survive without the new ideas and new graduates that universities bring. Buffalo is particularly fortunate to have UB, an institution with a wide range of such programs, twelve professional schools, in addition to offering top-flight undergraduate education. As daunting as our problems can seem at times, how much greater would they be without this university and the billion-dollar positive impact it has on our Western New York economy?
It is therefore a special honor for me to receive this degree from an institution which is so vital to a cause for which I care so deeply — that of a better Buffalo. A Buffalo where we don’t have to be closing schools and libraries. A Buffalo where children will be able to find opportunity when they become adults. A Buffalo to which those who love it and have had to leave, will have reason to return. Thank you, John Simpson, for the leadership you are providing, and thank you to the University for giving me this honor.
Copyright 2004 by Buffalo Report, Inc.