Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

Drexel loses its beloved leader

A MAN WHO can shake 4,500 hands in half a day is somebody to be reckoned with. But that was not the only reason Constantine Papadakis was a man to be reckoned with.

A MAN WHO can shake 4,500 hands in half a day is somebody to be reckoned with.

But that was not the only reason Constantine Papadakis was a man to be reckoned with.

In 14 years as president of Drexel University, he took a small engineering school whose campus was literally falling apart and wrenched it into the modern world, adding a law school, medical school and online program; spreading the campus to many new or reconstructed buildings; and increasing enrollment, endowments and, most importantly, prestige.

It was even expanding to the West Coast.

All the while, Papadakis - "Taki" to friends, university officials, faculty and even students - never lost the personal touch, insisting on shaking the hand of every graduate at commencement ceremonies - which meant 4,500 last year.

Constantine Papadakis died Sunday of complications from lung cancer. He was 63.

His death sent a shock wave through the school and the city. The lung cancer that had been diagnosed more than a year ago had been in remission. But on Thursday, he took medical leave. He died from pulmonary complications.

Mayor Nutter said Papadakis "stood out as a man of vision and action. Starting in the mid-'90s, he steadied the university's finances and then set Drexel on a course of dramatic expansion. He raised Drexel's profile from a regional university to an international institution."

Former Mayor John F. Street said Papadakis "will always be remembered for his vision and his passion for Drexel.

"He was also a tremendous citizen of Philadelphia. Whenever I asked him to participate in any number of endeavors to support our city, he always answered the call to public service willingly, with intelligence and with boundless energy."

U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah called Papadakis "a man of great vision, wisdom and determination."

Craig Eisenberger, 23, of Freeland, Pa., a science and technology major, remembered attending a Thanksgiving dinner at Papadakis' home in Wayne with the student government body in 2006.

"He was friendly, warm and welcoming," Eisenberger said. "He loved telling jokes. He would always say hello and ask how I was doing. I want to lead like Taki did, consequences be damned."

"Everything he did he did was for a reason and everything he did made our degrees so much more valuable," said Ashley Peskoe, 20, a global journalism major from Stuart, Fla.

"He was always great with students, always wanted to know what was going on and how he could help," said Kristen Smith, student government president. "He knew how to work the business end of things, but he really truly cared about the students and their experience at Drexel as well."

Papadakis, a native of Athens, Greece, and an engineer by profession, must have realized he had his work cut out for him when he arrived to take over Drexel in 1995.

Enrollments had fallen to historic lows, classrooms sat empty and deteriorating and one dormitory had been boarded up for a decade. There had been no salary raises for the staff in three years, and cash flow was so dire that there had been suggestions to sell off Drexel's art collection.

On his first day at the school, a Friday in summer, Papadakis must have felt lonely. Most of the staff had taken the day off. He immediately made a rule that four-day workweeks would be accompanied by a 20 percent pay cut.

Applying his business acumen, Papadakis' shrewd management raised Drexel's Standard and Poor rating from a dismal BBB+ in 1997 to A+ with a stable outlook since 2005.

During his tenure, the operating budget grew by more than 300 percent. The size of the faculty doubled to 7,300, making Drexel the seventh-largest private employer in Philadelphia.

"Currently at the university you will see a lot of cranes because Drexel is busy adding a new dorm, an athletic center and also is building a new science center," said Richard A. Greenawalt, chairman of the Drexel board of trustees.

The Drexel University College of Medicine was created in 2002, and next month the first graduates of the Earle Mack School of Law, established in 2005 with a major gift from Mack, a Drexel alum, will receive their diplomas.

Earlier this year, Drexel established a graduate school in Sacramento, Calif., and plans were being made to build a 600-acre campus 15 miles east of that city.

C.R. "Chuck" Pennoni, past chairman of the Drexel board of trustees and a 1963 Drexel grad, will be the interim president.

Papadakis, son of a doctor, was born on Feb. 2, 1946. He earned a civil engineering degree at the National Technical University in Athens, came to the United States in 1969 and received a master's degree from the University of Cincinnati in 1971.

He was a former executive of the Bechtel Corp. and other major engineering firms. He was dean of the University of Cincinnati College of Engineering when he was hired by Drexel.

Papadakis met his future wife, Eliana Apostolides, while both were studying for their master's degrees at the University of Cincinnati.

One of the hands that Papadakis shook at a commencement ceremony was that of their daughter, Maria, who graduated from Drexel with a degree in business administration in 2008.

In addition to his wife and daughter, Papadakis is survived by a sister, Katy Papadourakis.

Services: Noon April 14 at St. Luke Greek Orthodox Church, in Broomall. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Constantine Papadakis Fund at Drexel University, 3141 Chestnut St., Philadelphia 19104. *

Staff writer Valerie Russ contributed to this report.