Sixth president of University of Florida, Stephen C. O’connell, dies

April 13, 2001

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Stephen Cornelius O’Connell, the sixth president of the University of Florida from 1967-73, died Friday at his home in Tallahassee. He was 85.

A native Floridian, O’Connell was the first graduate of the University of Florida to become president. He was an athlete, World War II veteran, attorney, public servant, prominent Catholic layman, justice and chief justice of the Supreme Court of Florida, banker, rancher, and a man who knew the names and faces of literally thousands of Florida residents.

“The entire University of Florida community is deeply saddened by the death of President Stephen C. O’Connell,” said current UF President Charles Young. “Under his steady and skillful leadership, this institution rose to national prominence during turbulent times in our country’s history. The University of Florida has lost a true champion, a tireless servant and great leader. Dr. O’Connell’s contributions to the university, the State University System and the people of Florida are unparalleled and indelible. We are better for the time he spent with us, and we are diminished by his loss.”

Born on Jan. 22, 1916 in West Palm Beach, O’Connell was one of six brothers and three sisters. His family lived briefly in Macon, Georgia until 1920, then for one year at Canal Point in the Everglades, in Titusville for 11 years, and in West Palm Beach from 1933 to 1940. After earning an undergraduate business degree and a law degree through an interdisciplinary business administration and law, O’Connell opened a law practice in Ft. Lauderdale.

While a student at the university, O’Connell was active in campus politics, his church, Army R.O.T.C., and intercollegiate athletics. Entering as a freshman in 1934, he became president of his sophomore class in 1935-36 and president of the student body in 1938-39. In his church, he was president of the Newman Club in 1937. He occupied the same position in his fraternity, Alpha Tau Omega, in 1938, and in Florida Blue Key, in 1939. In R.O.T.C. he rose to the rank of cadet lieutenant colonel commanding the Infantry Regiment in 1938. Captain of the Florida Gators Boxing Team in 1938, he went undefeated and won the Southeastern Conference Championship in his middleweight division.

As World War II approached, he suspended his law practice to become civilian director of physical training for the Third Air Force of the U.S. Army Air Corps in Tampa. When hostilities began in December 1941, he accepted a commission and served, first with the 5th Air Force Headquarters in Brisbane, Australia as director of Physical Training and Special Services Officer; and later as executive officer of the 312th Bombardment Group (Medium) in New Guinea, the Philippines, and Okinawa. He ended the war with the rank of major.

After returning to his law practice, O’Connell served as attorney for the city of Hallandale, the North Broward Hospital District and for the Florida State Racing Commission, as well as chief counsel for the Florida State Road Department. In the years prior to 1955 he was active in the Democratic Party in Broward County and participated in several senatorial and gubernatorial campaigns.

In October 1955, Gov. LeRoy Collins appointed O’Connell a justice of the Supreme Court of Florida. In June 1967 he was elected chief justice and on Sept. 1, 1967, O’Connell accepted the presidency of the University of Florida.

Though O’Connell’s name had been on a list of recommended candidates submitted by a University faculty advisory committee, some faculty members expressed displeasure at the prospect of being led by someone from outside academia. O’Connell’s actions in defending academic freedom, as well as his energetic search for additional faculty position, higher salaries, and improved teaching and research space won over most of his detractors.

O’Connell’s years in office coincided with the most passionate and disruptive social movements of the 20th century. In the wake of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Vietnam War, the Kent State killings and the disappointment of African-American students with the pace of university integration, the campus saw student protests, marches, and, in spring 1971, forced occupation of the president’s office. As during his career on the bench, he proved a good listener as well as a forceful decision-maker. In the end, no one was seriously injured, no property was significantly damaged, and no harmful interruption affected the university’s course offerings. At the commencement exercises of August 1973, O’Connell’s last graduating class twice rose in spontaneous tributes to his presidency.

Another notable legacy from O’Connell’s seven years in office was his promotion of a more open and welcoming environment for minority students and faculty members. By spring 1971, O’Connell had established and approved three major programs for academic assistance to African-American students: the Critical Freshman Year Program; Council for Legal Educational Opportunity grants; and Carnegie Foundation grants. Other assistance programs were started for minority students in medicine, arts and sciences, and the Institute for Food and Agricultural Sciences.

A measure of the university’s progress in this area of minority opportunities during O’Connell’s administration is provided by the following numbers: In 1967, when he arrived on campus, there were no black faculty members; when he retired in 1973 there were 19. In 1967 there were 61 black students; in 1973 there were 641.

During his presidency, total UF enrollment rose from 19,004 in 1967 to 23,570 in 1973.

O’Connell also is credited with saving University Auditorium, which, in restored form, became the gem of the central campus. In like manner he acted to save the collegiate gothic classroom buildings of the original campus.

To improve support for academic programs, O’Connell reorganized the Alumni Association, for which he had served as president in the year before he took the helm of the university, and created an Office of Development staffed by professional fund-raisers.

On June 28, 1973 he announced his retirement from the university, and returned to his home in Tallahassee, where he resumed the practice of law. Subsequently, he became Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Lewis State Bank, Florida’s oldest.

He also oversaw, as managing partner, the Turkey Roost Joint Venture, which was engaged both in the production and milling of Tung oil and in land development in Leon County. Later, he raised cattle and pine on his ranch 10 miles east of Tallahassee.

He remained active in university and civic affairs. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the University of Florida Foundation and a continuing consultant to one of his life-long interests, Florida Blue Key. During Fall 2000 Homecoming activities, Florida Blue Key’s annual banquet was a tribute to O’Connell.

“Smart, wise, perceptive, and effective explain Stephen C. O’Connell’s tremendous impact on his state and his time, but they do not capture the man,” John V. Lombardi, UF’s ninth president, said Friday. “Few have equaled his accomplishments; none have done so with such grace. In this unruly state, Steve O’Connell’s patrician elegance and informal charm magnified the power of his presence and enhanced the effectiveness of his work. This state and nation need more like Steve O’Connell and we will see few.”

Among the many honors O’Connell received during his career were honorary degrees from the University of Notre Dame; Jacksonville University; Biscayne College; the Federal University of Brazil at Rio de Janeiro; Florida State University; and the University of Florida. He received the Annual Brotherhood Award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews, Florida Region; the Papal Medal, Pro Ecclesia et Pontifica, from Pope Paul IV; a professorship in his name established in the College of Law; the Distinguished Floridian Award from the Economic Club of Florida; the Leadership Florida LeRoy Collins Lifetime Achievement Award; the Great Floridian Award from Florida History Associates, Inc.; the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Florida; the Air Force Reserve Officers Training Corps Outstanding Service Award; induction into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame; membership in the Florida Sports Hall of Fame; and designation by the Southeastern Conference of the NCAA as a “Living Legend.”

His legend also lives on at the Stephen C. O’Connell Activities Center, the largest enclosed space on campus, home to basketball, indoor track, and other sporting events, as well as to graduation ceremonies and concerts. Named in his honor by the Legislature in 1978, the facility is popularly known to the student body as the “O’Dome.”

“Florida has lost an outstanding public servant and the University of Florida has lost one of its greatest leaders,” said Marshall Criser of Jacksonville, UF’s eighth president. “We sincerely mourn his passing and share with his family their deepest sorrow.”

O’Connell was preceded in death by his first wife Rita McTigue and son Martin R. He is survived by his second wife Cynthia; three children, Rita Denise, Stephen C., Jr., and Ann Maureen; and eight grandchildren.

Arrangements announced Friday included a viewing in the rotunda of the Florida Supreme Court building on Tuesday, from 2-5 p.m. The funeral service is scheduled for Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. at Blessed Sacrament Church in Tallahassee.