Gordon Gray, a former chair of the Radio/Television/Film Department passed away Oct. 25. He was 87.
Gray joined the School of Communications and Theater faculty in 1967.
“When Gordon came to Temple, he led a department that had built a strong regional reputation under the leadership of Prof. John Roberts,” says former SCT Dean Robert Smith. “Gordon attracted some of the most widely respected senior people in the field.”
The department’s growth under Gray’s watch was immense. According to a quote on the WRTI website, Gray said it grew from 100 undergraduate students to 1,200.
“Our students get a lot of hands-on hardware experience, but knowing how to use the equipment is not all. The camera and the microphone are to RTF students as paint and brushes are to an art student,” Gray was quoted as saying in a Temple University press release.
Lew Klein, an adjunct professor at Temple for 59 years, recalls some of Gray’s accomplishments.
“I believe that Gordon Gray’s success with the development of the RTF Department it attributable to his astute selection of a great faculty and his ‘real world’ approach to the courses offered to the fast-growing student body,” he says. “The years he spent as chair coincided with an explosion of interest in communications and especially broadcasting.”
Under his watch, Klein adds, the RTF saw a heightened sense of congeniality among the faculty and its students. He recalls fondly the faculty-student softball games Gray organized, “of course won by the student teams.”
Klein says his talent and personality will be remembered forever. “Gordon had a golden voice and a heart of gold to go with it.”
