Past CSU president Michael Schwartz passes away

As Dr. Michael Schwartz was preparing to step down as president of Cleveland State University in 2008, he was most proud, not of all the new construction and higher admissions standards, but how he’d finally started seeing students don university apparel.

“I think I was able to give people back their pride," he told The Plain Dealer back then. 

Dr. Schwartz, CSU’s fifth president, passed away on January 4. A celebration of life, jointly hosted by Cleveland State and Kent State University, where he served as president from 1982 to 1991, is scheduled for February 8 in the Glasscock Family Foundation Ballroom.

"When I first came [to campus], if I ever saw anybody wearing a Cleveland State T-shirt or sweat shirt, it was an amazing sight," he told The Plain Dealer in 2008.

"They didn't do it. They wore Miami, they wore Bowling Green, but they didn't wear Cleveland State."

Having come from Kent State, Dr. Schwartz was taken aback by the low morale among both the students and faculty and staff. So, he set out to turn it around and is largely credited for marking the beginning of the university’s dramatic transformation. 

To do that, he established new admission standards, an honors program, faculty initiatives and breathed new life in student services. During his tenure, he led a boom in construction including the university’s new Student Center, recreation center and dorms.

To many students, he was affectionately known as “Papa Schwartz,” a genial figure on campus, readily accessible and ever present. He was deeply beloved and leaves an enduring legacy, not just for Cleveland State, but for Northeast Ohio.

“I will forever cherish Dr. Schwartz’s kind and generous spirit, his dry sense of humor, his steadfast belief in the power of free speech and his wise approach to mentorship,” said current CSU President Dr. Laura Bloomberg. “He has been a true teacher to me.”  

For anyone interested in making a gift in memory of Dr. Schwartz, the family encourages donations to either Cleveland State or Kent State’s Endowment Funds.

Get all of the details about his celebration of life, which is open to the public.