SUNY Chancelor John Ryan announced a few days ago that he will be stepping down soon to take a position with a leadership development center in North Carolina. I have had the real pleasure of getting to know John personally and I can tell you this is a huge loss for New York. Not just for the State university system, I mean it's a huge loss for the state itself. John Ryan is a retired Navy Admiral. He was a Navy fighter pilot, and had many command positions, including Superintendent of Annapolis. He is a quintissentially common sense, no-ego-involvement kind of guy. John came to New York after retiring from the Navy to run the Maritime College. He wasn't here long before SUNY asked him to simulataneously run SUNY Albany, which had a vacancy at the top. John did such a terrific job that his next step was Chancellor of the entire system.

You don't run into many people as fine as John Ryan; at least I haven't. As well as liking him a lot personally, and enjoying playing golf with him (which we once did even in a 35 knot rainy wind one day), I liked the leadership that John brought to the SUNY system. John recognized that SUNY historically has not played a significant enough role in the state's economic development, and he was making serious progress in correcting that. That's what I mean by a loss to the entire state.

I wish John Ryan the best, he deserves it. But I wish even more that he'd change his mind and stay.