The Master of Business Administration classroom at the Berry College Campbell School of Business was recently dedicated to its founder, the late Sam I. Spector.
Spector, who passed away last spring, was a member of the business faculty for nine years, from 1967-1976. During that time, he attained rank of full professor, served as the chair of the business department and began the Berry MBA program in 1973. He received an honorary degree from Berry in 2008.
“Although it’s been 40 years since Dr. Spector left the faculty at Berry, his legacy lives on,” Berry College President Stephen Briggs said at the Sept. 28 ribbon cutting. “He is the kind of professor who changed the trajectory of student’s lives, and a professor who, I think, many of us aspire to be today.”
Those gathered to remember Spector included his wife Virginia, his daughter Julie, some of the first students to graduate from the MBA program and junior marketing and international business major Maria Ramirez, who had received a scholarship courtesy of Spector and his family for her interest in entrepreneurship.
Spector held doctorates from American University (laws) and Georgia State (business administration) and was a 2008 recipient of Berry’s Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters in recognition of his achievements on campus and beyond. He was a World War II hero who later served with the CIA in Washington, D.C., before settling in Rome. His work as president of Garden Lakes Realty, the Chamber of Commerce and the Rome Homebuilders Association had a significant positive impact on the community.
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Written by Student Public Relations Assistant Victoria Mashburn
