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Obituaries
Albert C. Rekate, a retired cardiologist and UB faculty member who endowed several awards and chairs at the university, died Feb. 6 in the Harris Hill Nursing Facility after a long illness. He was 93.
A 1940 graduate of the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Rekate completed his residency at E.J. Meyer Memorial Hospital—now Erie County Medical Center—and served as a captain in the U.S. Army Medical Corp from 1944-47.
He joined the UB medical school faculty in 1954. Among his numerous contributions, he established the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, serving as acting chair from 1972-75, and also played a role in the creation of the School of Health Related Professions, now the School of Public Health and Health Professions, serving as acting dean of the school from 1965-66 and associate dean from 1966-74.
At the same time, he held variety of administrative posts at E.J. Meyer Hospital, among them associate director of medicine from 1957-63 and director of the Department of Rehabilitation medicine from 1964-69. As director of the hospital from 1970-73, he played a role in the hospital’s transition to the present-day ECMC.
He retired from UB as a professor emeritus of medicine in 1986, but continued to be active in the school, serving as a member of the school’s Dean’s Advisory council and its emeritus faculty group.
Over the years, Rekate had been a generous benefactor of the health sciences at UB, establishing the Albert and Elizabeth Rekate Chair in Cardiovascular Diseases and endowing the Glen E. Gresham M.D. Visiting Professorship in Rehabilitation Medicine, both in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. He also endowed the Dean’s Award Fund in the School of Public Health and Health Professions and contributed seed money to develop an undergraduate core research curriculum in the school.
Rekate was active in numerous medical societies on a local, state and national level, serving as president of the Western New York Heart Association, the Medical Union, the Buffalo Academy of Medicine and UB’s Medical Alumni Society.
He received the Samuel P. Capen Award from the UB Alumni Association for notable and meritorious contributions to the university and its family in 1982 and the Dean’s Award from the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in 1983.
Rekate is survived by his wife, Linda Holt Rekate of Williamsville, retired UB clinical assistant professor and director of the Speech, Language and Hearing Clinic. He was predeceased in 1985 by his wife, Elizabeth Foster Rekate.
A memorial service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Feb. 20 in Christ United Methodist Church, 350 Saratoga Road, Amherst.
Memorials may be made to the Albert and Elizabeth Rekate Chair in Cardiovascular Diseases in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, or to the School of Public Health and Health Professions, c/o the UB Foundation, P.O. Box 900, Buffalo, NY 14226-0900.
Lee E. Griffin, former director of public safety at UB, died Feb. 2 after a long battle with lung cancer. He was 70.
Griffin joined the UB police force in 1971 as assistant director after spending nearly 10 years as a New York State trooper. He was named director in 1977.
“It&rsauo;s hard to point out one single thing that you’re most proud of after the period of time I’ve been here. But I would say that very few law enforcement agencies can say they’ve had a 23-year period without an allegation of police brutality,” Griffin told the UB Reporter upon his retirement in 1994. “We expect everyone in our organization to treat the public as if they were members of their family, with courtesy and dignity.”
As the founding president of the SUNY Public Safety Directors Association, Griffin was instrumental in the change to full police status for SUNY’s 28 departments. He also served as president of the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators from 1986-1987.
After his retirement from UB, Griffin remained active, both on and off campus. He did consulting work and volunteered for the American Red Cross. He also did disaster relief work after Hurricane Katrina.
A memorial service will be held at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Dengler Roberts Funeral Home, 8630 Transit Road, East Amherst.
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