Marshall Criser
Encyclopedia
Marshall McAllister Criser, Jr. (born September 4, 1928) is an American corporate lawyer
and former university
administrator. Criser is a native of New Jersey
, and earned his bachelor's
and law degree
s before becoming a practicing attorney. He was the eighth president of the University of Florida
, serving from 1984 to 1989.
, the only child of a meat-cutter and grocer, Marshall Criser, Sr., and his wife, Louise Johnson. In 1941, his father sold his little grocery store and moved his family to West Palm Beach, Florida
. After graduating from Palm Beach High School in Palm Beach
in June 1946, Criser attended the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida
. He earned his way through undergraduate school at Florida as a construction worker and cafeteria cashier
, while remaining an active member of various extracurricular
organizations. Criser was president of Sigma Nu
Fraternity
(Epsilon Zeta chapter), student government and the Florida Blue Key
leadership honorary society, in addition to being a senior officer in the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC), the business manager of the Seminole yearbook
, and homecoming
chairman. He was also inducted into the University of Florida Hall of Fame. Criser graduated from the university's College of Business Administration with a bachelor of science
degree
in 1949, and from its College of Law with a bachelor of laws
degree in 1951. After graduation from law school, he was commissioned as a first lieutenant
in the U.S. Army and served two years of active duty before entering the private practice of law in Palm Beach County, Florida
.
in the law firm
of Gunster, Yoakley, Criser & Stewart in West Palm Beach, Florida
for thirty-one years. He served as a member of the board of governors
of The Florida Bar
from 1960 to 1969 and as its president from 1968 to 1969, and was also a member of the American Bar Association
House of delegates. He was two-term member of the Board of Regents
of the State University System of Florida
from 1971 to 1981, having been appointed by Governor Reubin Askew, and served as the chairman of the Board of Regents from 1974 to 1977. As chairman, Criser led the search committee that selected Robert Q. Marston
as the new University of Florida president in 1974.
The Florida Board of Regents selected Criser to be the eighth president of the University of Florida in 1984. He was the University of Florida's second alumnus
to serve as its president. His term as president is remembered for the enhancement of the university's instructional quality, the rapid rise of its admissions standards, the growth of its academic reputation, and its successful fund-raising among alumni and the business community. His administration successfully completed the process of the University of Florida's admission to the Association of American Universities
(AAU), the leading association of North American research universities, in 1985, and forthrightly handled the football program's widespread violations of National Collegiate Athletic Association
(NCAA) rules under coach Charley Pell
that shocked the university community during the 1984–1985 academic year. As an experienced lawyer, he supervised the university's own investigation of its football program, disclosed the results to the NCAA, and implemented reforms to ensure the integrity of the university and future compliance with NCAA legislation. Criser was responsible for initiating the university's first comprehensive capital
campaign in the fall of 1988. When completed three years later, in 1991, the capital campaign had raised more than $390 million dollars for the university's endowment
. At the time, the capital campaign realized the third-highest total of private donations ever raised by an American state university.
Criser advocated reducing class sizes to improve the quality of academic instruction, and proposed reducing undergraduate enrollment
by 1,500 students while maintaining the size of the university faculty
and budget. The next three entering freshman
classes were to be reduced by 500 entering students each. He also made plans for raising the university's admissions standards and its upper division retention requirements, bolstering the academic counseling program, and rewarding faculty excellence in instruction, research and academic publishing. The lost income from the smaller entering classes, and the costs of the other academic enhancements, were to be offset by increased investment income resulting from the capital campaign's additions to the university endowment.
After resigning as the university president in 1989, Criser returned to the practice of law in Jacksonville, Florida
, with the law firm of Mahoney, Adams & Criser, and its successor, McGuire Woods. When the Florida Legislature
reorganized the governance system for the state's universities in 2001, Governor Jeb Bush
appointed Criser as the founding chairman of the newly constituted board of trustees of the university. He served on the corporate board of directors
of Barnett Bank
, BellSouth
, Florida Power & Light
, Rinker Materials
and Shands Hospital
, and, at the request of Governor Bush, he later served as the chairman of Scripps Florida Funding Corp. He also served as a member of the NCAA Infractions Appeals Committee.
In 2007, Criser and his wife Paula made a $1 million gift to Shands HealthCare
to support the Shands at the University of Florida Cancer Hospital
, a new $388-million treatment facility completed in 2009.
Criser and his wife are the parents of six children, including Marshall M. "Casey" Criser, III, the president of AT&T
Florida and a member of the University of Florida Board of Trustees.
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
and former university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
administrator. Criser is a native of New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, and earned his bachelor's
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
and law degree
Law degree
A Law degree is an academic degree conferred for studies in law. Such degrees are generally preparation for legal careers; but while their curricula may be reviewed by legal authority, they do not themselves confer a license...
s before becoming a practicing attorney. He was the eighth president of the University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
, serving from 1984 to 1989.
Early life and education
Criser was born in Rumson, New JerseyRumson, New Jersey
Rumson is a borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 7,122.Rumson was formed as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 15, 1907, from portions of Shrewsbury Township, based on the results of a...
, the only child of a meat-cutter and grocer, Marshall Criser, Sr., and his wife, Louise Johnson. In 1941, his father sold his little grocery store and moved his family to West Palm Beach, Florida
West Palm Beach, Florida
West Palm Beach, is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and is the most populous city in and county seat of Palm Beach County, the third most populous county in Florida with a 2010 population of 1,320,134. The city is also the oldest incorporated municipality in South Florida...
. After graduating from Palm Beach High School in Palm Beach
Palm Beach, Florida
The Town of Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The Intracoastal Waterway separates it from the neighboring cities of West Palm Beach and Lake Worth...
in June 1946, Criser attended the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Alachua County, Florida, United States as well as the principal city of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area . The preliminary 2010 Census population count for Gainesville is 124,354. Gainesville is home to the sixth...
. He earned his way through undergraduate school at Florida as a construction worker and cafeteria cashier
Cashier
Cashier is an occupation focused on the handling of cash money.- Retail :In a shop, a cashier is a person who scans the goods through a machine called a cash register that the consumer wishes to purchase at the retail store. After all of the goods have been scanned, the cashier then collects...
, while remaining an active member of various extracurricular
Extracurricular activity
Extracurricular activities are activities performed by students that fall outside the realm of the normal curriculum of school or university education...
organizations. Criser was president of Sigma Nu
Sigma Nu
Sigma Nu is an undergraduate, college fraternity with chapters in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Sigma Nu was founded in 1869 by three cadets at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia...
Fraternity
Fraternities and sororities
Fraternities and sororities are fraternal social organizations for undergraduate students. In Latin, the term refers mainly to such organizations at colleges and universities in the United States, although it is also applied to analogous European groups also known as corporations...
(Epsilon Zeta chapter), student government and the Florida Blue Key
Florida Blue Key
Florida Blue Key is a student honor and service society at the University of Florida. It is often written and referred to by the initialism "FBK."This organization was started at the University of Florida in 1923 under the presidency of Albert Murphree...
leadership honorary society, in addition to being a senior officer in the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC), the business manager of the Seminole yearbook
Yearbook
A yearbook, also known as an annual, is a book to record, highlight, and commemorate the past year of a school or a book published annually. Virtually all American, Australian and Canadian high schools, most colleges and many elementary and middle schools publish yearbooks...
, and homecoming
Homecoming
Homecoming is the tradition of welcoming back alumni of a school. It most commonly refers to a tradition in many universities, colleges and high schools in North America...
chairman. He was also inducted into the University of Florida Hall of Fame. Criser graduated from the university's College of Business Administration with a bachelor of science
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
degree
Academic degree
An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
in 1949, and from its College of Law with a bachelor of laws
Bachelor of Laws
The Bachelor of Laws is an undergraduate, or bachelor, degree in law originating in England and offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree...
degree in 1951. After graduation from law school, he was commissioned as a first lieutenant
First Lieutenant
First lieutenant is a military rank and, in some forces, an appointment.The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations , but the majority of cases it is common for it to be sub-divided into a senior and junior rank...
in the U.S. Army and served two years of active duty before entering the private practice of law in Palm Beach County, Florida
Palm Beach County, Florida
Palm Beach County is the largest county in the state of Florida in total area, and third in population. As of 2010, the county's estimated population was 1,320,134, making it the twenty-eighth most populous in the United States...
.
Lawyer, regent, university president
Criser was a partnerPartner (business rank)
A partner in a law firm, accounting firm, consulting firm, or financial firm is a highly ranked position. Originally, these businesses were set up as legal partnerships in which the partners were entitled to a share of the profits of the enterprise. The name has remained even though many of these...
in the law firm
Law firm
A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to represent clients in civil or criminal cases, business transactions, and other...
of Gunster, Yoakley, Criser & Stewart in West Palm Beach, Florida
West Palm Beach, Florida
West Palm Beach, is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and is the most populous city in and county seat of Palm Beach County, the third most populous county in Florida with a 2010 population of 1,320,134. The city is also the oldest incorporated municipality in South Florida...
for thirty-one years. He served as a member of the board of governors
Board of governors
Board of governors is a term sometimes applied to the board of directors of a public entity or non-profit organization.Many public institutions, such as public universities, are government-owned corporations. The British Broadcasting Corporation was managed by a board of governors, though this role...
of The Florida Bar
The Florida Bar
The Florida Bar is the integrated bar association for the state of Florida. It is the third largest such bar association in the United States. Its duties include the regulation and discipline of attorneys....
from 1960 to 1969 and as its president from 1968 to 1969, and was also a member of the American Bar Association
American Bar Association
The American Bar Association , founded August 21, 1878, is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. The ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation...
House of delegates. He was two-term member of the Board of Regents
Florida Board of Regents
The Florida Board of Regents was from 1965 to 2001 the governing body for the State University System of Florida, which includes all public universities in the state of Florida, United States. It was created to replace a predecessor body called the Florida Board of Control, which had existed from...
of the State University System of Florida
State University System of Florida
The State University System of Florida is a system of eleven public universities in the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2011, over 320,000 students were enrolled in Florida's state universities...
from 1971 to 1981, having been appointed by Governor Reubin Askew, and served as the chairman of the Board of Regents from 1974 to 1977. As chairman, Criser led the search committee that selected Robert Q. Marston
Robert Q. Marston
Robert Quarles "Bob" Marston was an American physician, research scientist, governmental appointee and university administrator. Marston was a native of Virginia, and, after earning his bachelor's, medical and research degrees, he became a research scientist and medical professor...
as the new University of Florida president in 1974.
The Florida Board of Regents selected Criser to be the eighth president of the University of Florida in 1984. He was the University of Florida's second alumnus
Alumnus
An alumnus , according to the American Heritage Dictionary, is "a graduate of a school, college, or university." An alumnus can also be a former member, employee, contributor or inmate as well as a former student. In addition, an alumna is "a female graduate or former student of a school, college,...
to serve as its president. His term as president is remembered for the enhancement of the university's instructional quality, the rapid rise of its admissions standards, the growth of its academic reputation, and its successful fund-raising among alumni and the business community. His administration successfully completed the process of the University of Florida's admission to the Association of American Universities
Association of American Universities
The Association of American Universities is an organization of leading research universities devoted to maintaining a strong system of academic research and education...
(AAU), the leading association of North American research universities, in 1985, and forthrightly handled the football program's widespread violations of National Collegiate Athletic Association
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
(NCAA) rules under coach Charley Pell
Charley Pell
Charles Byron "Charley" Pell was an American college football player and coach. Pell was an Alabama native and an alumnus of the University of Alabama, where he played college football. He is most notably remembered as the head coach of the Clemson University and the University of Florida...
that shocked the university community during the 1984–1985 academic year. As an experienced lawyer, he supervised the university's own investigation of its football program, disclosed the results to the NCAA, and implemented reforms to ensure the integrity of the university and future compliance with NCAA legislation. Criser was responsible for initiating the university's first comprehensive capital
Financial capital
Financial capital can refer to money used by entrepreneurs and businesses to buy what they need to make their products or provide their services or to that sector of the economy based on its operation, i.e. retail, corporate, investment banking, etc....
campaign in the fall of 1988. When completed three years later, in 1991, the capital campaign had raised more than $390 million dollars for the university's endowment
Financial endowment
A financial endowment is a transfer of money or property donated to an institution. The total value of an institution's investments is often referred to as the institution's endowment and is typically organized as a public charity, private foundation, or trust....
. At the time, the capital campaign realized the third-highest total of private donations ever raised by an American state university.
Criser advocated reducing class sizes to improve the quality of academic instruction, and proposed reducing undergraduate enrollment
Enrollment
Enrollment or enrolment may refer to:* Matriculation, the process of initiating attendance to a school...
by 1,500 students while maintaining the size of the university faculty
Faculty (university)
A faculty is a division within a university comprising one subject area, or a number of related subject areas...
and budget. The next three entering freshman
Freshman
A freshman or fresher is a first-year student in secondary school, high school, or college. The term first year can also be used as a noun, to describe the students themselves A freshman (US) or fresher (UK, India) (or sometimes fish, freshie, fresher; slang plural frosh or freshmeat) is a...
classes were to be reduced by 500 entering students each. He also made plans for raising the university's admissions standards and its upper division retention requirements, bolstering the academic counseling program, and rewarding faculty excellence in instruction, research and academic publishing. The lost income from the smaller entering classes, and the costs of the other academic enhancements, were to be offset by increased investment income resulting from the capital campaign's additions to the university endowment.
After resigning as the university president in 1989, Criser returned to the practice of law in Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
, with the law firm of Mahoney, Adams & Criser, and its successor, McGuire Woods. When the Florida Legislature
Florida Legislature
The Florida State Legislature is the term often used to refer to the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida. The Florida Constitution states that "The legislative power of the state shall be vested in a legislature of the State of Florida," composed of a Senate...
reorganized the governance system for the state's universities in 2001, Governor Jeb Bush
Jeb Bush
John Ellis "Jeb" Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd Governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. He is a prominent member of the Bush family: the second son of former President George H. W. Bush and former First Lady Barbara Bush; the younger brother of former President George W...
appointed Criser as the founding chairman of the newly constituted board of trustees of the university. He served on the corporate board of directors
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
of Barnett Bank
Barnett Bank
Barnett Bank, founded in 1877, eventually became the largest commercial bank in Florida with over 600 offices and $41.2 billion in deposits. The purchase by NationsBank was announced August 29, 1997, but even before signs on Barnett's branches were changed, NationsBank merged with BankAmerica in...
, BellSouth
BellSouth
BellSouth Corporation is an American telecommunications holding company based in Atlanta, Georgia. BellSouth was one of the seven original Regional Bell Operating Companies after the U.S...
, Florida Power & Light
Florida Power & Light
Florida Power & Light Company, the principal subsidiary of NextEra Energy Inc. , commonly referred to by its initials, FPL, is a Juno Beach, Florida-based power utility which serves roughly 4.4 million customers in Florida. FPL Group holds power generation assets in more than 20 U.S...
, Rinker Materials
Rinker Group
The Rinker Group was an Australian-headquartered multinational building products company. Prior to its acquisition by Cemex, it was listed on both the Australian Securities Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. Rinker operates three major divisions:...
and Shands Hospital
Shands at the University of Florida
Shands at the University of Florida is a teaching hospital at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida and Jacksonville, Florida and is two of many hospitals in the Shands HealthCare system.-History:...
, and, at the request of Governor Bush, he later served as the chairman of Scripps Florida Funding Corp. He also served as a member of the NCAA Infractions Appeals Committee.
Legacy
The University of Florida named its new student administrative services building, Marshall M. Criser Hall, in honor of Criser in 1991. Criser Hall includes the Marshall Criser Student Services Center, the Office of Admissions, and the Registrar's Office. The University of Florida College of Law honored him with the endowed Marshall M. Criser Chair in Electronic Communications and Administrative Law.In 2007, Criser and his wife Paula made a $1 million gift to Shands HealthCare
Shands HealthCare
Shands HealthCare is a medical network in north-central Florida, named in 2007 to the U.S. News & World Report list of the nation's top 50 hospitals.-History:William A. Shands was a Florida state Senator, elected from the 32nd District in the mid-1940s...
to support the Shands at the University of Florida Cancer Hospital
University of Florida Cancer Hospital
The University of Florida Cancer Hospital is an Academic Cancer Center in Gainesville, FL. The 200 bedroom complex focuses on producing basic laboratory findings that will ultimately be used for preventive therapies for cancers.-Background:...
, a new $388-million treatment facility completed in 2009.
Criser and his wife are the parents of six children, including Marshall M. "Casey" Criser, III, the president of AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
Florida and a member of the University of Florida Board of Trustees.
See also
- History of the University of FloridaHistory of the University of FloridaThe history of the University of Florida is firmly tied to the history of public education in the state of Florida. The University of Florida, colloquially known as "Florida" or "UF," originated as several distinct institutions that were merged to create a single state-supported university by the...
- List of Levin College of Law graduates
- List of Presidents of the University of Florida
- List of Sigma Nu brothers
- List of University of Florida alumni
External links
- The Florida Bar – Official website of The Florida Bar
- Scripps Florida – Official website of Scripps Florida
- University of Florida – Official website of the University of Florida
- University of Florida College of Law – Official website of the Levin College of Law