New University of Missouri president Gary Forsee remembers, and is remembered well by, his comrades who graduated in 1968 from Cape Girardeau Central High School.

The former chief executive officer of Sprint/Nextel was named to the post Thursday in Columbia. He originally moved to Cape Girardeau in December 1966, when his father was transferred here to head the district office of the Social Security Administration.

The Pilot House was one of his hangouts, Forsee said in an interview after the announcement. And during the summer of his junior year at the University of Missouri-Rolla, he took a job as a summer intern at Procter & Gamble's Charmin plant.

The ties made in high school have remained, he said, and a core group has kept in touch over the years. "We have had to work at it, and it is something we all thought about," he said.

Along with Cape Girardeau, Forsee has lived around the state in Kansas City, Moberly, St. Joseph, Hannibal, Joplin, Springfield, Charleston and St. Louis. "I certainly won't need one of those Garmin devices or a road map to get around for this new job," he said at a Columbia news conference, referring to GPS devices.

The 1968 Central basketball team with Gary Forsee (52), front left, the new University of Missouri president.

Forsee has met with Gov. Matt Blunt and his likely opponent for governor next year, Attorney General Jay Nixon, to talk about higher education policy and financing. "It gave me a chance to understand their ability to collaborate to generate a shared vision, assessing with me what was required and establish a coalition and reach some kind of shared responsibility for the importance of higher education," Forsee said in the interview.

Forsee's pay for the new job, $400,000 annually, is far less than either his severance package from Sprint, valued at $54 million, or his previous salary, $14.8 million. At age 57, he could have returned to private industry or retired.

"I want to learn and contribute and give back in a meaningful way," Forsee said. "That certainly is the motivation rather than not doing anything, not contributing and not learning."

Forsee, who has no advanced academic degree, said he will bear the burden of proof to show he is up to the job. One way to do so, he said, is to find new sources of revenue other than student tuition. He noted that the state's share of funding for the university has fallen from 58 percent of its budget to 38 percent since 2000.

"We have to be sure we find a way to fund the programs that we need," Forsee said.

The selection of Forsee drew praise from longtime friends and a former curator.

"I think he would do an excellent job," said Dr. Jay Sheets, a dentist who graduated from high school with Forsee in 1968.

Sheets said he and Forsee see each other periodically but they have not spoken since Forsee was removed as chairman of Sprint/Nextel in October. "He is a very organized person, he has great people skills and he would be a huge asset to the University of Missouri system."

Former MU curator John Lich?tenegger of Jackson, who has been critical of several recent higher education policy steps taken by Gov. Matt Blunt and the Missouri Legislature, said he views the selection of Foresee as an exciting development.

One strong argument for For?see's selection, Lichtenegger said, is what some may consider a weakness -- Forsee is moving from the business world to the university and does not have a background as an academic administrator.

"He will be able to say and do what he believes is right and fight for additional funding for the university," Lichtenegger said. "He should be a great leader for change and take us to the level where we needed to go."

While Lichtenegger said he has not spoken to Forsee, he has visited with several of Forsee's friends in Southeast Missouri. Lichtenegger also said he attended a presidential search committee meeting in Portage?ville, Mo., where those who spoke talked of the need for a strong leader "who would hit the ground running."

Walter Lamkin, a 1968 Central graduate who is a partner in a St. Louis law firm, is a close friend of Forsee. "His judgment is impeccable, and he has the ability to negotiate through political matters that is necessary for anyone running a major university system."

All of his former classmates contacted for this report said Forsee has retained the values he exhibited at Central High School throughout his life. "When he several weeks ago on a road trip spent the night at my house, he was as normal as was when I met him," Lamkin said.

Pat Godwin, a retired executive for Procter & Gamble, was a classmate in Cape Girardeau and a fraternity brother of Forsee at the University of Missouri-Rolla. "He is obviously not doing this for the money," Godwin said. "He is doing this because he feels an obligation to the university system and he feels it is his obligation to give back."

rkeller@semissourian.com

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