Obituaries

Robert L. Palmer Jr., a longtime UB administrator who served as vice president for student affairs for six years, died Jan. 29. He was 80.

Palmer joined UB in 1975, serving as associate provost and vice provost for student affairs before assuming the role of vice president when the Division of Student Affairs was enlarged to a vice presidential office in 1991.

Palmer left UB in 1997 to take the same role at California State University Fullerton. At that time, then-UB President William R. Greiner praised Palmer for his leadership, noting he had made the UB units responsible for student services “vastly more responsive to students’ needs.” Palmer also helped redirect the university’s approach to admissions, guided the Department of Public Safety through “significant transitions” and helped increase the effectiveness of auxiliary services, such as dining and vending operations, Greiner said.

Palmer also provided leadership for a number of campus-wide committees and initiatives at UB, including the University Bookstore Task Force, the Calendar Commission, the Task Force on Intolerance and the annual SEFA campaign, Greiner added.

“Bob Palmer has contributed immensely to the University at Buffalo and to our Western New York community,” Greiner said. “We will miss him, and we will miss his leadership.”

Palmer continued to receive recognition for his commitment to student service programs while at Cal State Fullerton, receiving the Scott Goodnight Award for Outstanding Performance as a Dean/Vice President from NASPA-Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, Region VI.

In 2006, the Robert Palmer Guardian Scholar Scholarship at Cal State Fullerton was established, with recipients receiving $10,000 per year for two years for graduate studies.

Palmer retired from Fullerton in 2010.

A graduate of Bennett High in Buffalo, Palmer completed his military service in the U.S. Air Force. He earned a BS in education and a master’s in college student personnel administration, both from Indiana University, and a doctorate in higher education from UB. He also studied at Harvard's Institute for Educational Management.

A gifted artist who specialized in black and white paintings — oil and acrylic — he also enjoyed playing golf during retirement.