 "Photo: Collette Fournier")
Dr. Samuel Draper, co-founder of the successful Sam Draper Mentored / Talented Student (MTS) Honors Program and retired English professor, lost his battle to cancer on Oct. 22, just two days before SUNY Rockland’s first Honors Alumni Homecoming, which he planned.
“Passionate” is a common adjective used to describe Dr. Draper, a man who skillfully turned mere ideas into reality.
“Sam Draper was a visionary—he saw potentials where no one else did—that’s how the MTS program became successful,” said professor, advisor, and Coordinator of MTS, Dr. Clifford Garner. “Sam’s other defining attribute: passion.”
As a professor and mentor, Dr. Draper gave special guidance to his students, believing that they had the capability and talents to achieve their goals and make a mark on the world. It is that belief that initiated the creation of the MTS Honors Program.
Dr. Nancy Hazelton, professor of English and MTS mentor, in a tribute, wrote about the skepticism and doubt that Draper faced when creating the program.
“When he and Libby Bay proposed the MTS model of excellence in 1975, a Rockland County guidance counselor said disdainfully, ‘You’ll never get a student from that college into the Ivy League.’ Such failure of vision rankles Sam; he believes that if talent is matched with opportunity and mentoring, all things are possible,” Hazelton said.
Past students’ application of Draper’s wisdom into their own lives is a lifelong process and, therefore, his warm, positive influence will live on through their accomplishments.
Marat Perlov, alumnus of the MTS Honors Program and graduate of Lehigh University, shared his thoughts on Dr. Draper.
“He definitely had a ‘glass half full’ mentality. Certainly, he never faltered in ascribing much weight to a student’s uniqueness and overall diversity, as much as to one’s inherent potential,” said Perlov. “And where others may have undervalued or overlooked such features, Dr. Draper made it among his top priorities, opening other corridors of hope beyond knowledge, intellectual gifts and the like.”
In addition to enlightening students on works of literature and bettering their writing skills, Dr. Draper also projected his love for the opera onto RCC by creating the club, Youth for Opera. Dr. Hazelton described the club’s purpose as a way “to introduce students to opera, to cultivate an appreciative young audience.”
RCC’s first annual Honors Alumni Homecoming was the professor’s latest project; he had accurately planned that gathering down to the hors d’oeuvres.
“Sam planned that party, he was very clear about what he wanted and how wanted it to go,” explained Dr. Laurie McNeill, Director of Grants Development, who planned the event with Dr. Draper.
Throughout the course of the event on Oct. 24, it was apparent that Dr. Draper’s spirit was alive through the friends, faculty, and students that remembered and celebrated his memory and all that he did for the college.
The growth of RCC wasn’t Dr. Draper’s only love. He also shared devotion to his dogs: show cairn terriers. It was this love for canines that paved the way for Dr. Draper’s contributions to the dog world. He enjoyed being judge at Westminster and other dog shows across the country.
Those who knew Dr. Draper, remember him as a man of talent, compassion, and friendship. When McNeill was asked to describe Dr. Draper, she depicted him as someone who “loved creating opportunities to bring out the best in students” and who was “infectiously optimistic and positive.”
We owe a great debt to Dr. Draper, a man who reflected his optimism and intelligence onto others, in turn, making the world a little brighter. He will never be forgotten for all that he has done and that he continues to do.
As Dr. Garner so eloquently put it, “We who knew Sam Draper will always hear his “Bravo” echoing in the halls of the Metropolitan Opera and the halls of RCC.”
Be the first to comment on this article!