University President Jesse Rogers said he received a call the morning of Friday, Nov. 21, informing him that former University President Louis J. Rodriguez passed away after being ill for some time.

Rodriguez was 81.

Rogers, who spoke at the Nov. 21 funeral for Rodriguez, said, “Lou Rodriquez will be remembered for his great sense of duty and dedication to the office of the president,” Rogers said. “I, along with multitudes of colleagues, friends, and loved ones, will remember him with great respect and fondness.”

Rodriguez was president for the longest concurrent term of any Midwestern State University president, serving from 1981 until he retired in 2000.

Flags on campus were lowered to half-staff that morning in honor of Rodriguez, who increased enrollment by more than 30 percent during his tenure as president.

Howard Farrell, vice president of university advancement and public affairs, said Rodriguez interviewed and hired him in 1989.

“I used to kid him because I used to say, ‘You had an incredible career and you only made one professional mistake,’ and he’d look at me and say, ‘What was that?’ and I’d say, ‘You hired me,’ ” Farrell said. “He had an incredible career. He was one of the longer standing presidents in the state Texas in public higher education, and—this isn’t hyperbole—he was absolutely revered not only on this campus, but across the state and across the Southwest.”

Farrell said Rodriguez was very close to students, and his home, the Sikes House on Midwestern Parkway, was always open to them.

“During homecoming he would always invite the students for cider and punch at his house after the torchlight parade, and one year it had rained and I remember somebody saying to him, because they had white carpets at the time, ‘When the students come in they’re going to track this carpet with mud,’ and to the day I die I’ll never forget what he said. He said, ‘It doesn’t matter. This house belongs to the students,’ which I think speaks volumes about who he was,” Farrell said.

Matthew Capps, dean of the West College of Education and associate professor of educational leadership and technology, said he knew Rodriguez before he was even a student because Capps’ father worked at the university.

“One of the things that really stood out to me about Dr. Rodriguez was every day he’d read the paper and if he found something about one of our students he’d cut it out, write a note, and send it to the student,” Capps said.

Capps said he went to a research conference at West Texas A&M University while he was a graduate student at MSU and Rodriguez was president.

“When I came back, and I had won an award there, he cut it out and sent it to me. He sent a note saying thanks for representing MSU,” Capps said. “I’ve still got the note on the wall in my office. It really made an impression on me.”

Magaly Rincon-Zachary, biology professor and director of undergraduate research, said she was interviewed by Rodriguez as part of his monthly series of faculty interviews in the university studio, then called TV-2.

“I remember when he interviewed me I was shaking. Everything was shaking, including my hair. But he put me at ease and it went very smooth,” Rincon-Zachary said.

Rincon-Zachary said she was impressed that Rodriguez was able to teach economics courses while also serving as president.

“Obviously I was never in his class, but the fact that he was teaching, I thought that was such an unbelievable thing to do,” Rincon-Zachary said.

• Louis Joseph Rodriguez was born in Newark, New Jersey, on March 13, 1933 to two Spanish immigrants. At the age of two he and his mother returned to Spain where he lived for six years.
• At age eight, he returned to New Jersey, and was thrown into the public education system, without any experience speaking English whatsoever. He was supposed to be placed into the fourth grade, but due to the language barrier, he was instead placed in the second grade.
• His third grade teacher gave him extra books to study, and by the end of that year he had caught up with his class language-wise.
• Rodriguez earned his bachelor’s from Rutgers University in Newark for economics and history, and attended Louisiana State University for his master’s degree in international trade and his Ph.D. in economics and finance.
• Rodriguez had not planned to have a career in administration, but when the business department head at Nicholls State, where he taught, became ill, he was asked to temporarily fill the spot, eventually becoming the permanent head of the department.  As the school grew, departments were separated into schools, and he became Dean of the College of Business.
• In 1971 he and his family moved to Texas, where he was the fourth person hired at the newly opened University of Texas at San Antonio as the Dean of the College of Business.
• Two years later, Rodriguez moved to the University of Houston at Clear lake City, as the fifth person employed. He served there for eight years, three as Dean of the School of Professional Studies, and five as Vice Chancellor and Provost.
• When Rodriguez applied for the presidency of Midwestern State University in 1980, it was the first time he had actually applied for an administrative position in his whole career.
• He assumed presidency of  MSU in January 1981.