By Amy Diaz
When Bill Heller came to St. Petersburg in 1992 to run the small university along the waterfront, some of the faculty took note of one stop on his resume.
He had been superintendent of a hospital for the mentally and criminally insane in Alabama.
If Heller had run an insane asylum, the professors joked, he would be well-equipped to run a university and its faculty.
Whatever it took, Heller went on to serve USF St. Petersburg for more than a quarter century as campus CEO, professor, dean of the College of Education and director of the Bishop Center for Ethical Leadership.
Now, the university that profited from his leadership, generosity and example is recognizing him by renaming Coquina Hall in his honor.
At a ceremony on May 15, the building where he taught education will be renamed H. William Heller Hall.
“Bill Heller has left a legacy at USF St. Petersburg that will be felt for generations to come,” said Martin Tadlock, who, as regional chancellor, holds the job that Heller filled for a decade. “His wisdom, his leadership and his kindness made a lasting impact on all who are fortunate enough to know him.”
“He came in and through his leadership rallied the campus and community to stand up and say, ‘This is a place that deserves to be developed and to grow,’” said Stephen Ritch, who worked with Heller for 10 years as chief student affairs officer.
“One of the things about Bill that everyone loves is his compassionate kindness and respect for other people,” said J.M. “Sudsy” Tschiderer, a retired member of the divisions of Student Affairs and External Affairs. “No matter what things have been done to him, he still will treat you with dignity, respect and a smile.”
Heller, 83, began his education in a series of rural, one-room schools in Illinois. He served as an Army paratrooper and earned his academic degrees at Southern Illinois University, Northern Illinois and Northern Colorado.
He was serving as dean of education at the University of North Carolina Charlotte when he was hired in 1992 to become dean and executive officer of the St. Petersburg campus of USF.
The campus had 3,200 students back then – all of them upperclassmen and graduate students. It had no residence halls and no University Student Center, and many professors griped that it was under the thumb of administrators in Tampa, 35 miles away.
But the campus – and Heller – had ambition.
USF St. Petersburg faculty and staff recall seeing Heller just about everywhere — which isn’t surprising, considering he served on over 10 local advisory boards in addition to working at the university.
“I’d see him at a formal function during the day, then another function in the evening completely unrelated, then at night he’d be in a T-shirt at an event as a volunteer parking cars,” said Raymond Arsenault, who has been on the faculty since 1980. “He had no sense of pretense and there was no job too menial he wouldn’t help out with.”
It became a campus joke that the city couldn’t operate without Heller being there in some capacity.
He took the lead in saving Sunken Gardens from being turned into condos.
He served on the SPCA of Tampa Bay Board of Directors and took initiatives to educate young children about the treatment of animals.
He carried the torch for more than half a mile of its journey from Florida to Atlanta in the 1996 Summer Olympics.
And he started to put USF St. Petersburg on the map.
“As sweet and nice as he is, he can be tough. He can hang in there — he had to,” said Ritch, founding director and curriculum adviser at the Bishop Center.
“I don’t think without Bill and his community leadership we would have ever seen this separate accreditation (which the campus achieved in 2006) and the development of the campus,” Ritch said.
“He’s the man who was instrumental in getting and creating a fully separately accredited university at USFSP,” said Winston Bridges, co-chair of the Retired Faculty and Staff Association. “He’s the man that got the job done.”
That said, Heller had a lot of late nights at the university.
Those who worked closely with him recalled only getting to meet with him in the early mornings or early evenings because he was always out in the community during the day.
When Keith Childs, maintenance supervisor of air conditioning and heating, worked evenings, he learned to come by Heller’s office a little later than usual.
“Half the time I would have to threaten to turn off his electrical power to get him to go home,” Childs said. “He would always tell me he had just one more email to send, ‘One more email, Keith.’”
In addition to contributing long hours, Heller made monetary contributions to the university.
Heller and his wife, Jeanne, are responsible for the Scholar’s Lounge in the Nelson Poynter Memorial Library.
They also established the H. William Heller Scholarship in Special Education for students in the College of Education who either have special education needs or have a focus in special education.
His generosity showed in smaller ways, too.
At Christmas parties, he dressed up as Santa Claus and brought a sack full of gifts.
On Thanksgiving, he bought dinner for the faculty and staff.
At a Halloween party where students made fake graves for all of the faculty, Heller’s headstone read: “Here Bill Heller would have laid but he waived his burial plot.” Heller was notorious for waiving fees for students and visitors at campus events.
Childs remembers asking Heller if he knew of a tutor for his grandson who was struggling in school.
“Two days later he gave me a phone number and had everything set up to get my grandson what he needed free of charge,” Childs said. “He put his people before anybody else.”
Now the university is giving Heller something back.
Pinellas County Commissioner Charlie Justice, a member of the Florida House of Representatives at the time, filed legislation in 2006 to rename the building after Heller once he retired.
Justice met Heller when he was a student assistant at USF St. Petersburg still working on his degree and saw him every morning in the office.
“He had a huge impact in every facet of the development of USFSP,” Justice said. “It is appropriate that he be recognized in some way to honor his work, honor his contribution to the university and make sure we remember that contribution for years to come.”
Justice remarked that when he filed the legislation 13 years ago, he didn’t think it would be much longer before Heller retired.
“It was a running joke that he would say he would retire in a couple years and then five years would go by and he’d still be working hard,” Justice said.
Tadlock and USF System President Judy Genshaft share the enthusiasm for renaming the building.
“We are so pleased to have the opportunity to recognize Bill’s many contributions by renaming Coquina Hall in his honor,” Tadlock said. “It’s our way of saying thank you for years of generous service to our University and to our region.”
“Bill Heller has been unwavering in his support of USF St. Petersburg as the campus has grown and evolved as an important member of the USF system,” Genshaft said. “His leadership has made a lasting impact, and this naming opportunity is an important way to memorialize his legacy.”
Heller, who has been in poor health, declined an interview with The Crow’s Nest.
The Coquina Hall renaming ceremony will be held May 15 at 3 p.m. in The Reef.
