Ever since Tom Herzhauser bought the Tavern at Bayboro three and a half years ago, at least twice a week he would count on hearing the same phrase uttered with conviction. “Barkeep!” associate professor or journalism Bob Dardenne would say with gusto, “I’ll have your finest sandwich and your heartiest wine.”
Herzhauser and Dardenne became well acquainted quickly, meeting off campus or sometimes at the Tavern a few times a month to smoke cigars, share drinks and tell stories with a group of friends. It was on a night similar to those that Herzhauser whipped together a sandwich for Dardenne with what he had in front of him; fresh grilled grouper, a red onion and mushrooms with some Swiss cheese softened over top, all on a rosemary bun. Dardenne would never order another kind of sandwich. It became his.
“Do it like you do for Bob,” Herzhauser recalls customers frequently asking.
When he learned of the Dardenne’s passing on Oct. 18, he immediately knew how he could pay tribute to that “striking, grand man” with his “pleasant smile and blue eyes that’d just grab you.” He was going to officially name the sandwich after him and add it to the Tavern menu.
Dr. Dardenne had been with the school for more then 20 years, the impact and loss was felt far further than only in the journalism department he helped to create.
“We didn’t just lose a mentor or an educator,” remarked Jim Schnur, librarian in charge of Special Collections and University Archives at the Nelson Poynter Memorial Library. “We lost a piece of our soul.”
Schnur himself is responsible for one such tribute, a special exhibit in the library he put together last Tuesday, the night before the school’s official memorial for Dr. Dardenne. Aside from a friendship forged during Dardenne’s early days on campus, Schnur’s hopes for the exhibit were multifaceted. He wanted a place where those who knew Dardenne could stop for a moment and reflect on the impact and influence of the titan we lost, as well as a place where those who had heard the name, but did not know the man, could go to understand why it is so fervent and persistently caught on the tongues of USFSP’s populace.
“He transcended what it meant to be a mentor or an educator,” added Schnur. “He was a guiding force.”
Stories of Dardenne and memorial celebrations have abounded across the campus in recent weeks, with students and faculty alike recalling memories of mentorship and friendship; sarcasm and George Dickel Tennessee Whisky.
Ren LaForme, USFSP alum and former student of Dardenne’s organized an “Outlaw Bourbon Party” the Sunday following Dr. Dardenne’s passing. He wanted to give those who couldn’t attend the school’s official memorial a chance to raise a glass and have toast for the good doctor.
The following day, some JMS undergrads; Jaime Kennedy, Krystal Blais, Brianna Enders, Hannah Schults, Jason Marcus and a few others sat around a table in a courtyard to pay their own respects. They passed a bottle of the now infamous George Dickel (a known go-to drink for Dardenne) around. With tears welling and hearts anchored down, they shared a story, took a drink and passed the bottle. Later, they released flowers in the bay and poured him one last drink.
Friends, family, colleagues and some who simply knew his name, gathered in the Peter Rudy Wallace courtyard last Wednesday for the school’s memorial, which was miraculously put together in just three days. Afterward, attendees retreated to the Tavern where Herzhauser offered free tastings of their latest menu item, the Dardenne.
Myriad tributes are still in the works. Dr. Deni Elliott, Dardenne’s successor as fearless leader of the Journalism and Media Studies department, says she plans to “reach out to alumni and friends of the department to build the Robert W. Dardenne Memorial Fund to a level that we can fund all of the wonderful ideas that have come to the department so far.”
According to Elliott, those ideas include, naming the PRW Mac Lab in his memory; planting a tree in the PRW courtyard for him with a stone saying so; giving an award, annually if merited, to a student who has produced the best work in community journalism, as judged by journalism faculty; and having a Robert Dardenne Memorial Scholarship for graduate work in community journalism.
The ability to carry out any tribute depends on the money that can be raised. An annual award or endow a scholarship would require $5,000 to set up. Anyone wishing to donate to the Robert W. Dardenne Memorial Fund can contact the department of Journalism and Media Studies to find how to do so.
