Saying goodbye

Robert ‘Bob’ Silvers, MD
1943-2008

A sad report of the loss of one of our best students -- he registered for something like six courses each semester -- and one our most delightful and unique instructors. I wish we had known him a longer time. He was the sort of person you want to know more about and learn more about his thoughts about life and his perspectives on our society.

Astoundingly well-informed, a ravenous reader, he could speak on any topic. With an impressive sense of belonging and of community, after sitting our courses for a few semesters, he came into the office to say: "I want to contribute to this program. I want to teach."

I was expecting him to suggest a course that was heavy into theory and cognitively demanding. Yet, despite his impressive knowledge and communicative skills, the course he planned to give was on making furniture -- "fine furniture." With him, on that day of the first conversation about his course, he brought in a large envelope filled with a variety of wood veneers and a scrapbook of photos. I was more than somewhat taken aback -- in no way had I been prepared for his unique suggestion. Nor was I ready for his confidence in my ability to comprehend the quality and variety of the veneers he so proudly displayed. I was able to recognize the fact that the woods were beautiful, unusual.

His course launched in mid-March with a handful of folks intent on learning to make fine furniture. Their decision was to construct a drawer, and they set about it with sawdust flying. I invested in a hand vacuum. It was a wonderful curiosity in our rather "cognitive" program. Looking back, I realize we take ourselves far too seriously.

Bob was a breath of fresh air -- real, warm, almost shy -- with an intelligence too great to support a tendency toward reticence. A gifted neurologist, he took great pleasure in the beauty of wood and the human mind. At 65, he left us far too soon. Your eyes may fill with tears as you think of him, but it will be followed by a quasi-winsome smile. You knew beauty, and you saw a "high being" who had essentially known a fulfilled life.

~ Lucille

The Osher Institute story

Lucille Salerno

So much of life is discovery. It all just unfolds before us, phenomenologically. Thus it was with our beloved lifespan learning program.

Launched on a shoestring by a courageous administrator, the program advanced through the whirlwind energy of an educator. On the edge financially, MU was uncertain of Lifespan Learning's future financial viability and success -- until late in the day on July 5, 2005.

An unpretentious telephone call came in from California bearing news of an award from the Bernard Osher Foundation. I took the call, walked down the hall to the associate vice provost's office to convey the news. The emotion unleashed by the news in her office put me in touch with the force energizing my own pounding heart. Seemingly in seconds, lifespan learning had gone from rags to riches -- and even undergone a name change, reborn as the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at MU. But it would be nine more months before we would come to comprehend the vision underlying the obligatory name change.

Bernard Osher -- our Daddy Warbucks! Yes, we had felt a bit like orphans before the award -- older folks sitting university classes specially designed for their developmental stage in life; universities, in our time, were populated by the young. Osher had bought us legitimacy. We wondered about the giver, initially half-assuming he no longer walked the earth. Few foundations are led by live, hale and hearty philanthropists.

Then came the invite to our first of the foundation's annual meetings. An epiphany awaited us in San Jose , where representatives from all 73 universities blessed with the Osher largesse would be gathered. Picture a well-attended plenary session in which group after group stands to announce: "I'm an OLLI"-- from the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, University of Hawaii at Hilo, University of California at Davis, UC Riverside, University of Vermont, Oklahoma State University. . By the time it was our turn to stand to make our identity known, we were part of the culture. There was recognition of the fact that we had been inducted into a force -- the OLLI Force!

Soon thereafter, a member of the group introduced himself simply as Barney Osher. Barbro Osher took to the platform to address the assembly: "I'm speaking to you at my husband's request -- he's shy. Go forth in strength, and do well as you do good," the elegant Mrs. Osher essentially urged in her lilting Swedish intonation. The Force had evolved into family. "Don't stay with them what brung ya," was Kali Lightfoot's appeal. "Get to know every OLLI." Kali is CEO of the Osher Foundation's National Resource Center established at the University of Southern Maine (USM). We are members of a national family force that is always only an e-mail away, ready to answer questions, resolve problems and give advice. The USM staff no longer takes it on alone, however. An automated e-mail distribution list now connects all 93 OLLIs -- yes, the Force continues to grow. It's an awesome collective intelligence!

The Man, his accomplishments, his mission
Listed in Forbes magazine as self-made and among the "world's richest people," financier Bernard Osher co-founded Golden West Financial, a profitable thrift. Subsequently, he took over Butterfield and Butterfield and built it into one of the nation's largest art auction houses, which he sold to eBay for millions in stock in 1999. In 2005, Mr. Osher's net worth was reported as $1.1 billion. In 2002, the charitable foundation he established 25 years earlier began offering $100,000 annual grants -- now in four-year cycles culminating in endowments of $1 million -- to learning programs that serve to keep aging populations cognitively and socially active and contributing to society.

Grants are offered in four additional categories besides OLLIs:

To college students with academic promise and financial need
Re-entry scholarships for students ages 25 to 50 returning for a bachelor's after a break in their pursuit of a college education
Programs in integrative medicine that feature research, education and clinical care in complementary or alternative medicine -- offered through the National Institutes of Health
Local arts and cultural programs in San Francisco and the state of Maine -- where Mr. Osher grew up.

In addition to our OLLI, MU Extension is the recipient of an Osher Foundation Re-entry Scholarship gift. The Oshers have indeed been good to us. The foundation likely will have invested $1.45 million in our OLLI at MU by the year 2010. In return, we are obliged to demonstrate that our program is financially secure and capable of carrying on its educational mission far into the future. Drawing on his financial wisdom and his vision, Bernard Osher advises that financial security for all OLLIs lies in a viable all-membership organization.

Salerno puts MU 's OLLI on the map

In recent months Lucille Salerno has received national recognition on several fronts that will allow her the opportunity to share and build on her experiences as director of MU's OLLI. She was appointed to the editorial board for the American Society on Aging's Lifetime Enrichment and Renewal Network newsletter. At the organization's annual meeting March 7 to 10 in Chicago, she will lead a roundtable discussion titled "Living Life to the Brim: Retirees Who Know Little About 'Being Old.' "

In addition, she was named to the editorial board of The LLI Review: The Annual Journal of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes, a new peer-reviewed journal published by the Bernard Osher Foundation.

Updated 8/7/08