The entire SUNY Old Westbury community mourns the loss of Dr. Gloria Young Sing, associate professor emerita of Politics, Economics and Society and a member of the faculty from 1971 to 1997. Dr. Young Sing died on April 10, 2024 in Trinidad and Tobago. Below is the message shared with the campus community on April 12, 2024 by President Timothy E. Sams.
Good afternoon to the faculty and staff,
We learned yesterday of the passing of Dr. Gloria Young Sing, a founding member of what was then the Politics, Economics and Society program and an early campus leader whose work built the foundation upon which we all work today. She died Wednesday. While we await confirmation of any particulars from her family, I would be remiss not to comment on what I've learned since hearing this news.
I never had the opportunity to meet or speak with Dr. Young Sing, but I have been told she was a force of nature – demanding excellence from all on campus while championing social justice in all of her words and deeds. Rather than speculate about her, I will share some of the words that have been shared by others.
In a note we received yesterday from Professor Emeritus of Visual Arts Luis E. Camnitzer, Dr. Young Sing was described as "the embodiment of the level of academic rigor and ethical standards the College strived to achieve." In relation to her leadership on campus, particularly during sometimes tumultuous disagreements with past campus administrations, he noted: "Combined with her fearless critique of whatever was wrong, the total lack of self-interest and self-importance, and her amazing sense of irony, she helped all of us survive the darkest periods of autocratic rule."
And, Dr. Tom DelGiudice, currently an associate professor of Politics Economics and Law, an Old Westbury alumnus, and former student of Dr. Young Sing, wrote to his faculty colleagues yesterday that "no one whoever attended a department or faculty meeting in those days would ever leave the meeting not recognizing that Dr Young Sing was a force to be reckoned with. Not because she was full of herself or needed to hear herself talk. Self-importance was not her style. Questioning her memory was deadly. She had the details no doubt and everyone knew it... She together with a number of other faculty in some relatively dark days at Old Westbury helped move the College forward and resist the forces seeking to change our mission by speaking truth to power."
Dr. Young Sing joined SUNY Old Westbury in 1971 and from 1972 to 1973 served as acting Academic Vice President. She later served as acting dean of arts and sciences and multiple times as convener of the Politics, Economics and Society Department, as "department chair" was not a recognized role on campus during her tenure. She retired as an associate professor of Politics, Economics and Society in 1997. She had been living for the past several decades in Trinidad and Tobago.
A specialist in political economy, political geography/geopolitics, and land use and regional planning, her 27 years on campus were central to the formation of our institution's mission, to its commitment to lifting students up through education, and to engaging in activism and debate about how we together can, and must, make the world a better place.
I did not know her, but it's obvious she will be missed. Thank you, Dr. Young Sing, and thanks to all here who have followed, and still follow, in her footsteps.
Thank you.
Timothy E. Sams
President