Memorial Service for Late Provost Dr. Joseph Shenker to be Held September 12 at C.W. Post

Brookville, NY-- The C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University will hold a memorial service on Saturday, September 12, 2009 for Dr. Joseph Shenker who served as provost of the C.W. Post Campus for 13 years and as president of LaGuardia Community College and Bank Street College of Education.

The memorial service is scheduled for 1 p.m. in the George Engelke/Astoria Federal Savings Lecture Hall, Room 119 in Humanities Hall on the C.W. Post Campus, 720 Northern Boulevard (Route 25A) in Brookville, NY.

At the ceremony, friends, family and former colleagues will pay their respects to a visionary, a humanitarian and a family man. Over four decades, Dr. Joseph Shenker enjoyed an extraordinary career as a distinguished college administrator. At age 29, he became one of the youngest college presidents in the nation, when he was appointed acting president of Kingsborough Community College of the City University of New York (CUNY) in Brooklyn, and never held a position with less authority for the remainder of his career in higher education.

The guest list brings together Dr. Shenker’s colleagues from Long Island University, LaGuardia Community College, Bank Street College of Education, the Wallace Foundation, and City University of New York as well as family and friends.

C.W. Post Chancellor Tess Mullarkey will offer a welcome followed by a video slideshow presentation titled “Joseph Shenker: Through the Years,” a compilation of photos provided by loved ones and the C.W. Post archives.

Words of tribute will be provided by close friends, family members and colleagues including Augusta Souza Kappner, former president of the Borough of Manhattan Community College and Bank Street College of Education, and David J. Steinberg, president of Long Island University.

The C.W. Post Long Island University Chamber Singers, directed by Dr. Mark Shapiro, will perform “Sicut Cervus” by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and “The Lord Bless You and Keep You” by Peter C. Lutkin.

The ceremony will be followed by a memorial tree dedication on the Great Lawn and the dedication of the Joseph Shenker Memorial Library in the Winnick House administration building. An oil painting of Dr. Shenker, painted by C.W. Post Art Professor Neill Slaughter, will be unveiled at the ceremony.

Dr. Joseph Shenker passed away on September 20, 2008 at the age of 68 after a brief bout with pulmonary fibrosis. He is survived by his wife Susan, children Deborah Singer, Karyn, Sarah and Jordan; and grandchildren Joshua and Rachel Singer and Ava Gould.

For more information regarding the memorial service, e-mail pr@cwpost.liu.edu or call 516-299-2334 or 516-299-2793.

Posted: August 27, 2009