He encouraged the football team with shouts of \u201cGo boys!\u201d while puffing on his pipe, and he was proud that the first nurse he met when he went into hospice care was a Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ graduate.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had a way about him that made an impression on everyone he met. He recognized the importance of everyone, and he made you feel that way,\u201d said Jeff Grasty, whose father served as a vice president under Millican and whose children came to know Millican and his wife, Frances, as grandparents.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should all be really proud to say that he was a part of our family, and we should plan on telling his story over and over again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Several hundred people gathered inside the Student Union on Monday to celebrate Millican\u2019s fatherly love for Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ students and his dedication to what he helped transform into the nation\u2019s second-largest university.<\/p>\n
Millican, 94, died Dec. 1, at his Central Florida home. That day marked the 45th anniversary of his appointment as president of Florida Technological University, which would later become Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½. Millican had told friends earlier this year that he would like to spend Christmas with Frances, his wife of 64 years who died last December.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a role model for us all, and the picture of a life well-lived,\u201d said Roger Pynn, a Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ graduate and Distinguished Alumnus Award winner who is president of the Curley & Pynn public relations firm.<\/p>\n
Pynn first met Millican when he was a student, and the two became close. Pynn said he was proud when Charles Millican asked a few months ago if he could introduce him as his \u201cadopted son\u201d at a doctor\u2019s appointment.<\/p>\n
Pynn also recalled a recent honor that Millican told him was one of the proudest moments of his life.<\/p>\n
On Oct. 22, he stood before some of the university\u2019s most distinguished graduates to accept the Champion\u2019s Award from the Alumni Association at the annual Black and Gold gala. Although Millican had typed up his notes on an old electric typewriter, he delivered the 14-minute speech entirely from memory.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we drove home that evening, he told me it was his highest honor. He was so very proud of Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ graduates,\u201d Pynn said.<\/p>\n
That powerful speech was Millican\u2019s last public presentation.<\/p>\n
Millican was chosen by the Florida Legislature in 1965 to help plan and build what was then called Florida Technological University. He had a budget of $75,000, an office above a drugstore in downtown Orlando and marching orders to make it happen.<\/p>\n
With Frances by his side, Millican worked magic, turning 1,227 acres of scrub and bushes in East Orlando into a university to train future aerospace engineers and computer programmers.<\/p>\n
Because the university that finally opened to 1,948 students in 1968 offered 35 degree programs in five colleges — not just aerospace engineering and computer science as first envisioned — the name of the school was later changed to the Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½.<\/p>\n
Today, more than 56,000 students attend 12 colleges at Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½.<\/p>\n
Charles Gray, who spoke on behalf of the community, said that Millican always had the university on his mind. He called Millican a visionary who designed the campus\u2019 innovative concentric circle design to accommodate growth and selected the powerful Pegasus as the university\u2019s emblem.<\/p>\n
\u201cCharlie and Frances enabled our community to achieve a dream of greatness,\u201d Gray said. \u201cWe are on the exciting journey of that never-ending quest for even greater achievement. Thank you, Charlie.\u201d<\/p>\n
Millican\u2019s contributions have led to economic development, education and partnership, helping to establish the region as one of the nation\u2019s largest economies. He was also an ever-present public servant who taught in the College of Business and kept an office at the Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ Foundation after leaving the president\u2019s office in 1978.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe never left his beloved university,\u201d said Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ President John C. Hitt. \u201cFew universities have enjoyed the lifelong passion that he invested in Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½.\u201d<\/p>\n
Born in Wilson, Ark., on Oct. 9, 1916, Millican was a Southern Baptist minister. His strong faith guided him throughout his life and supported him as he embarked on the journey to establish Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½.<\/p>\n
The ceremony included the reading of some of his favorite bible passages and the singing of his most beloved hymns. The Millicans\u2019 pastor, Rev. Shaun King from College Park Baptist Church, recalled how Charles Millican recently gave him one of his \u201ccrown jewels,\u201d a bible he received from the Bellevue Baptist Church when he was ordained as a minister in 1938.<\/p>\n
It was also announced at the celebration that a pair of stars in the Pegasus Constellation have been named after Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½\u2019s first couple. Certificates commemorating the stars were at the front of the Pegasus Ballroom, one on each side of Millican\u2019s casket.<\/p>\n
The ceremony concluded with the Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ Jazz Chamber Group playing \u201cWhen the Saints Go Marching In\u201d while President\u2019s Leadership Council students served as honorary pallbearers leading the casket out of the ballroom.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Charlie and Frances would have loved everything about this moment,\u201d said Rick Walsh, a Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ graduate, chair of the Board of Trustees and a friend of the Millicans for 40 years.<\/p>\n
Millican\u2019s legacy will live on on the special \u201cRemembering Charlie\u201d website<\/a>, where viewers are invited to post comments in remembrance. Donations in memory of President Millican can be made to the <\/strong><\/em>Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ Women’s Club First Ladies’ Graduate Scholarship Fund<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He encouraged the football team with shouts of \u201cGo boys!\u201d while puffing on his pipe, and he was proud that the first nurse he met when he went into hospice care was a Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ graduate. \u201cHe had a way about him that made an impression on everyone he met. He recognized the importance of everyone, and he made you feel…","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":18756,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-twocol.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[819,822,3996,4044],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-18755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-charles-millican","tag-charlie-millican","tag-rick-walsh","tag-roger-pynn"],"yoast_head":"\n