SUNY Oswego honored former University Police Chief Tom Ryan ’74 M’99 recently by dedicating the police communications center in honor of him and his wife, Lynda Ryan ’86. The Ryans, both Oswego alumni, are generous supporters of The Fund for Oswego.
25 years of leadership—SUNY Oswego’s four University Police chiefs stand in order of when they served (from left): Tom Ryan ’74 M’99, 1989 to 2002; Larry Jerrett ’87, 2002 to 2006; Cynthia Adam M’09, 2006 to 2012; and current Chief John Rossi.
Tom Ryan’s legacy carries on in the officers who succeeded him since he retired in 2002. The next three chiefs—Larry Jerrett ’87, Cynthia Adam M’09 and
current Chief John Rossi—are all people promoted by Ryan at some point.
“That’s such a good feeling, to know that other people had the same faith that I had in people who I knew would be good leaders,” Ryan said during a brief ceremony for about two dozen people.
Besides his three successors, college President Deborah F. Stanley and SUNY’s police commissioner R. Bruce McBride ’70 M’73, who oversees police and security on all 64 SUNY campuses, attended.
McBride said dedicating the communications center is a fitting way to honor a man who set a great example for all SUNY police departments. He called Oswego “one of the pace-setters for the State University of New York police.”
President Stanley said Ryan moved the department toward improved relations between students and police, seeking a more collaborative approach to public safety. “Tom was a consummate law enforcement professional,” Stanley said. “He always placed the safety of our students first.”
Ryan served 13 years as chief and earned respect from his former officers, as well as from students, faculty and staff, as Chief Rossi attested.
“I valued the way Tom ran our department, the way we fit into the campus as a whole and his dedication to the safety of the students,” Rossi said. “I appreciate Tom’s leadership over all these years, because I try to lead the same way that he does.”
The college’s police station, located just north of Glimmerglass Lagoon on campus, was redesigned for University Police while Ryan was chief.
—Edwin Acevedo M’09
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