By Emma Zaremba
Features Editor
The essence of a person survives in the people he or she leaves behind. Father Robert Struzynski, O.F.M. and a former friar at Mt. Irenaeus, died December 13. At 78 years old, Father Bob obtained several titles, all while serving as a member of the Order of Friars Minor for 55 years and an ordained priest for 50.
The impact he made in society through his faith and leadership is illustrated in the various accomplishments that make up his life’s work. Yet, the impact he made on all those around him can’t be seen on paper. Father Bob’s spirit exudes from the lives of the people he touched as a mentor, teacher and dear friend.
Father James Vacco, O.F.M, began his friendship with Father Bob when he was still a student at St. Bonaventure.
“I first met him back in 1972,” Father James said. “I took him for one of those Introduction to Theology courses that the school offered at the time. He was always a very personable individual and always tried, at least when we were students, to integrate many different elements into his theology.”
One particular class with Father Bob resonated with Father James and still fascinates him today.
“I remember one course where he and the head of the psychology department (at the time), Carl Wagner, had done a joint course that combined theology and psychology,” Father James said. “It was one of those courses that was very engaging because when they talked about religious experience, Bob would bring in a theological perspective and Carl would bring in a psychological perspective. So, you came to realize that you can’t separate a person’s theology or spirituality from their psychological framework or personality. It was interesting to see that parallelism going back and forth.”
Father Bob always found a way to share his true personality in the classroom, according to Father James.
“He always had a contemplative side to him, because even in class you could see that very internal type of reflective life, very deep thinking and a very deep sense of himself and other things.”
To this day, a specific image comes to mind when Father James thinks of Father Bob.
“(In the classroom) he would always say ‘humanity is for the transcendent’ accompanied with a graceful hand gesture,” Father James said. “It’s one of those classic images in my own mind. When I think of Bob, I think of ‘the transcendent.’”
English graduate student Brett Keegan remembers a similar peace in Father Bob’s classroom setting.
“I took a class with him about contemplative prayer, and it was the first time he had taught a class in a fairly long time,” Keegan said. “It was the guinea pig class and I know as time went on he came to like it a lot more. It was just once a week, one credit and we always started each class meditating for 20 minutes.”
Aside from the teacher-student relationship, Keegan looked to Father Bob as a mentor while working as the student coordinator for the prison service program in Gowanda that Father Bob used to run.
“That was cool because it was a completely different side of Father Bob,” Keegan said. “Often, people look at him as this very grandfatherly, quiet, reserved and kind man, which he was in all those capacities to the fullest. Yet, in the prison, you can’t be that way to the prisoners. You have to be hard on them because you’re counseling and trying to get them to basically turn against all these well-established habits that they’ve had or make rationalizations for what they’ve done and confront that.”
Keegan recalls Father Bob acting tough with the prisoners but always finding a way to soften it later on in the conversation.
“Father Bob could go from being tough to beautifully comforting. He had a lot of experience with that as a chaplain and living in Buffalo in a type of halfway house.”
This “other side” of Father Bob was evident to Father James as he recalled the past.
“There must have been some type of fundraising thing where they brought in a junk car and for, say three dollars, you’d get to hit the car,” Vacco said. “There’s a picture that shows him with a sledgehammer just beating up this car. I always thought, ‘well isn’t that kind of out of character for him?’”
Much of Father Bob’s time was spent at Mt. Irenaeus. Senior English and sociology major Kevin Cooley interned at the Mountain during the summer of 2011.
“Whether we were helping him tend to the gardens, minister to incoming students or sharing a simple meal, Bob’s company was reassuring and welcome,” Cooley said. “We interns had a running joke that Bob’s presence was so calming that his official job position should be sitting in a rocking chair with an old dog at his side for the whole day, his only task to smile at guests as they walked in.”
Keegan, also an intern at the Mountain that summer, witnessed the same calmness.
“I remember in the mornings a lot, he and I would sit outside and eat cereal in the quiet of the morning. He would talk about books he was reading, or (we would sit) in this sense of silence,” Keegan said. “Everything he said was infused with that contemplative calmness and that contentment in life itself. When we worked out in the garden, he just has this joy and tenderness, whether we were weeding, planting seeds or picking peas. Every action was so deliberate that it was almost like the Buddhist notion of mindfulness where you’re fully focused on what you’re doing. He would always have wise things to say, but in very down to earth language.”
A certain memory of Father Bob stands out among all the others for Keegan.
“One thing I’ll always remember about him is that he was sort of a skinny man, but he gave the strongest hugs out of almost anyone I’ve ever met,” Keegan said. “He just gave embracing and really strong hugs.”
In a tribute, Brother Kevin Kriso, O.F.M, shared his memories of Father Bob as a brother and friend.
“Bob’s office was next to mine in the Merton Center and that allowed a lot of my ability to have a window in on his life,” Brother Kevin said. “Bob preferred to be called Brother Bob to Father Bob, even though he was a friar and a priest. Brother Bob felt that the title of ‘Father’ removed him too much from the lives of other people, and he wanted to be with them.”
According to Brother Kevin, Father Bob had several incomparable qualities.
“A few years ago that song ‘Cooler Than Me’ was popular on the radio. A student stopped by my office back then, and as we were joking around with that song the student pointed to Bob’s office and asked me whether I was cooler than Bob. I said ‘absolutely not!’ He has a PhD in philosophy from Notre Dame and was a college professor here at SBU in the 1970’s. He went to Kingston, Jamaica for ten years – a very rough place indeed. When he came back to the U.S., he lived in Buffalo with men who were coming out of prison and worked as a prison chaplain. Then he came to Mt. Irenaeus and spent the last several years really trying to understand spirituality and prayer. ‘Bob is a lot cooler than me!’”
Spending so much time with Bob, Brother Kevin came to learn a lot about his past, too.
“He has a commission in the Army from his involvement in ROTC at Bonaventure, but resigned that commission, for he was being called to serve in other ways,” Brother Kevin said. “Bob also played semi-pro baseball and might have gone on to be famous, but he didn’t want to be famous. He wanted to serve. In recent months he got on YouTube to make his lectures on prayer available to more people. That’s pretty good for an old dude.”
Father Bob led an extraordinary life that affected so many of those who spent time with him. Brother Kevin referred to St. Francis of Assisi during his closing comments.
“To paraphrase Francis, I think it would be a great shame to us if we just sat around and recounted Brother Bob’s coolness,” Brother Kevin said. “We should imitate his coolness and get out there and make a difference in the world.”
Cooley expressed his fondness of Father Bob and how he hopes to keep his kind nature alive.
“Bob was one of the gentlest people I’ve ever met – a true Franciscan in every way,” Cooley said. “I will miss him sorely every time I return to the Mountain. Hopefully when I bring my children to visit that sacred place I can relay stories of his deeds to them and know that even after his time on earth, his legacy is one of simple peace.”
Keegan, who worked with Father Bob in three different capacities throughout his time at Bonaventure, voiced a similar respect.
“A lot of people master skills, or master their place in society, but Father Bob mastered the art of living itself,” Keegan said. “He was a man who, come what may, was in harmony with himself, the people around him and the world around him, no matter how old he got, no matter what he did.”
