Class Notes

SIXTY YEARS OF LEADERSHIP: A longtime trustee and board chair emeritus, Witmer was a distinguished leader as a Rochester undergraduate, as a lawyer and jurist, in multiple roles on the board, and as a philanthropist who gave generously to the University and the Greater Rochester community.

Over his six decades as a member of the University community, Robert Witmer Jr. ’59 gave time, talent, and resources to nearly every corner of the institution.

“Bob Witmer represented all that is special about our University,” said Rich Handler ’83, chair of the University’s Board of Trustees, upon the death of Witmer, a trustee and board chair emeritus, in August. “The University of Rochester lost one of our true legends.”

Witmer grew up in nearby Webster, New York. The son of a Rochester alumnus—the late Hon. G. Robert Witmer ’26, a former justice in the Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court—the younger Witmer studied history, became cocaptain of the Yellowjackets basketball team, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and graduated with honors in 1959.

He went on to Harvard Law School, earning an LLB in 1962, then returned to the Rochester area, where he joined the law firm Nixon, Hargrave, Devans & Doyle (now Nixon Peabody). During his many years there, he successfully presented cases before the state’s highest courts and represented clients in high-profile decisions that helped shape real estate and environmental law in New York and at the federal level.

Elected a trustee in 1979, Witmer was named chair of the board in 2003. He served in that role until 2008, a transformational tenure that included laying the groundwork for the launch of the largest campaign in University history, The Meliora Challenge.

As a philanthropist, Witmer gave generously to the University. President Sarah Mangelsdorf, in addition to praising him as “a person of great integrity, intelligence, and grace,” wrote in a letter to the board: “I am honored to live in the Witmer House, named in honor of Bob’s parents, and to hold the title of G. Robert Witmer, Jr. University Professor, established in 2016 with a commitment from Bob and his wife, Nancy, who died in 2017. Each year since 2008, the University president has presented the Witmer Award for Distinguished Service to a small number of staff members whose work is characterized by outstanding and sustained contributions to the University. This award was named for Bob because it personifies the values by which he lived.”

He not only gave but took time to enjoy what the University offered, according to Jamal Rossi, the Joan and Martin Messinger Dean of the Eastman School of Music. “Bob and Nancy were fiercely committed to making music as part of the New Horizons ensemble program,” Rossi said. “The importance of music to the Witmer family was on full display at Nancy’s funeral, when Bob, his children, and grandchildren performed as the ‘Witmer Family Band.’”

The University presented Witmer with the Hutchison Medal in 2008 and the Eastman Medal in 2016. In 1992, he was named to the inaugural class of the University’s Athletic Hall of Fame.

Witmer is part of an extended family of Rochester alumni that includes, in addition to his father, daughter Heidi Witmer Smith ’95N, ’10M (MPH); son G. Robert Witmer III ’00M (MD); brothers John R. Witmer ’60 and Thomas W. Witmer ’65; niece Catherine T. (Puck) Witmer ’86; and nephews J. Robert Witmer Jr. ’85 and Jonathan W. Witmer ’01.

Handler thanked the Witmer family “for sharing this amazing man with our University for these past 60 years.” He added: “Thank you, Bob, for teaching us every day about integrity, respect, humility, generosity, commitment, and the importance of education. Each day you made our University ‘ever better.’”

—Karen McCally ’02 (PhD)