Honorees-
Mary & William T. (Buck) Lai

From students to sweethearts to senior administrators, Mary and Buck Lai have witnessed more than 60 years of Long Island University’s growth and development. Mr. Lai earned his B.A. in journalism from the Brooklyn Campus in 1941. Mrs. Lai, then Mary Maneri, earned her B.S. in accounting and economics from the Campus, graduating magna cum laude in 1942. A year later, the couple was married. Mr. Lai enlisted in the U.S. Naval Air Corp achieving the rank of Lt. (SG), while his wife followed him around the country doing accounting, tax returns and bookkeeping for the Navy. When the war ended in 1946, the couple returned to New York. Mr. Lai enrolled at Columbia University where he completed his M.A. and Ed.D. Mrs. Lai was hired as a public accountant by Arthur Andersen.

That same year, Tristram Walker Metcalfe, then president of Long Island University, asked Mrs. Lai to return to the Brooklyn Campus to serve as bursar. She agreed to do so, on a temporary basis. The job was much more permanent than she ever dreamed. She remained the chief financial officer for the next 55 years, guiding the institution through times of tremendous growth and fiscal turmoil, all while raising two sons, William and Richard, and being a devoted grandmother to Allison, Danielle and Thomas. Today, she serves as vice president for finance and treasurer.

During her tenure, Mrs. Lai has seen enrollment grow from 800 students in 1946, to more than 30,000 at present. Her years of hard work and dedication have earned her the respect of colleagues across the University and throughout the metropolitan area. Her service has been acknowledged through numerous University awards and ceremonies. In 1978, she received the Distinguished Alumna Award from the Brooklyn Campus. She also received the Trustee Award in 1981 and an honorary doctorate from the Brooklyn Campus in 1986. In 1996, the structure that houses the University’s financial operation was named the Mary M. Lai Finance Building. In addition to the honors bestowed upon her by the University, she received the NACUBO Distinguished Business Officer Award in 1987, the Peat Marwick/EACUBO Distinguished Service Award in 1989 and the Soroptimist Woman of Distinction Award in 1991.

Mr. Lai also returned to work at his alma mater in 1947, holding a series of positions at increasing levels of responsibility. He served as baseball coach, assistant basketball coach and assistant director of athletics under the legendary Claire Bee. Upon Bee’s retirement in 1952, he became director of athletics and chairman of the Health and Physical Education Department. Among his many achievements as director, Mr. Lai headed Operation Rebound, marking the return of Brooklyn Blackbird basketball to the Campus following the basketball scandals of the early 1950s. In 1962, he conceptualized and led the effort to convert the Paramount Theater into a gymnasium. In addition to his duties on campus, he was a baseball scout for the University and for the Brooklyn Dodgers. The author of several books and numerous articles on baseball and basketball, he served as director of athletics at the Dodgertown Camp for Boys in Florida, and was co-director of the Greater New York Sandlot Baseball program. In 1964, he was appointed University director of athletics, overseeing programs across the campuses. To add to his already full schedule, he served as acting provost of the Brooklyn Campus from 1967-1968, seeing it through tumultuous times.

In 1969, Mr. Lai became the director of athletics for C.W. Post. During his time at the Campus, he introduced the popular health and physical education major, a program based on the physical education major in Brooklyn. He remained at C.W. Post until 1973, when he left to become head of physical education and athletics for the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point. There, he revised the physical fitness program, adding courses in self defense and cardio-pulmonary resuscitation. He was offered the position of athletics director for New York Institute of Technology in 1984, where he remained until his retirement in 1988.

Through the years, the Lais’ personal and professional lives have revolved around a University that will be forever in their debt. Their spirit, loyalty and dedication embody the the very qualities that have made this University great.

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