Clinton Pataye
By Kerri Linsenbigler
Features Editor
Fourteen years ago, Clinton Pataye joined Bonaventure’s Safety and Security team looking for a break from his hectic police job.
“I only saw bad people,” said Pataye, a security officer supervisor. “It got real old. I came here because I like the quietness and the solitude.”
Pataye said he visited Bonaventure in 2004 with his son to look at a master’s degree course while wearing his police uniform. That same day, the former assistant director of Safety and Security, approached him about working on campus.
“(The former assistant director) wanted an active police officer here,” Pataye said. “He wanted someone here who had some knowledge of security situations and problems.”
In addition to his supervisor duties, Pataye also serves as an investigator. Whenever a problem arises between Bonaventure students and the town of Allegany, Pataye said he works with the Allegany Police Department in joint investigations.
Pataye said he enjoys working on campus and interacting with students, faculty and staff.
“This is like a community,” Pataye said. “That’s the way I look at it.”
Before his time at Bonaventure, Pataye was a military man. While in the army for nearly 34 years, Pataye served on combat tours in Vietnam, the first Gulf War, Panama and the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
“I spent 15 months in Iraq,” Pataye said. “And so did two or three students here.”
Pataye grew close with one of these former students while they both served, and remained close when they returned to Bonaventure.
“We had a Marine here named Joe,” Pataye said. “So, when his parents came for graduation day, he had me meet his mom and dad. And he says ‘this is the first sergeant that took care of me all the time.’”
While he’s had a long career in law enforcement and at St. Bonaventure, Pataye said his greatest sense of honor comes from his military service.
“If you write anything about me, make sure you put in that when I was soldier,” he said, “I served all minor combat tours. “I’m very prideful of that.”
“Bonaventure’s unsung heroes” will profile extraordinary faculty, staff and administrators throughout the semester.
