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Service To Honor Professor

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By GEOFF FOX gfox@tampatrib.com

The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 6, 2008

ST. LEO - Dirk Budd was known as much for his unwavering loyalty as his towering intellect.

A retired former chairman of Saint Leo University's English, fine arts and humanities department, Budd recently was remembered by friends, colleagues and former students as a tough man and passionate teacher who spoke little, but commanded respect with a Gary Cooper-like presence.

Each said they owed something to Budd, a professor and playwright, who died Nov. 28 at age 73. He had battled cancer and other health issues for years. A memorial gathering will be from 4 to 6 p.m. today at Hodges Family Funeral Home on U.S. 301 in Dade City.

"He was somebody you could count on. He stood up for me in times of difficulty," said longtime friend Rich Bryan, dean of Saint Leo's school of arts and sciences. "He understood the world and the people in it in a special way. He was especially fond of Tennessee Williams' plays, which pointed out the weaknesses in people.

"I was talking to a mutual friend who said Dirk loved people's frailties as much as their strengths. I think that's really very true. I know that I have some great weaknesses, but he was OK with them. I was his friend, not even despite those weaknesses, but partly because he understood them."

Budd was preceded in death by his wife, Eve. He is survived by a son, Dirk Ronald Budd Jr., daughter Beth Blocker, a brother and two grandchildren. He taught at Keuka College in upstate New York before moving to Florida in the 1970s.

Former theater student Mark Terry, a budding Hollywood producer, said Budd, who earned his doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania, helped him realize that education was about more than a grade-point average.

"The way he taught was outside the box," Terry said. "You could come up with your answer, but he wasn't about two plus two is four. It was about how you got there. What does it mean to you? One day he took us outside class. He had us walk around the campus and look at people.

"Every time we looked at somebody we were supposed to write down what we thought that person was thinking. There was a girl who looked upset and a guy who looked like a jock. At the time, I couldn't play basketball for the college anymore. I looked at the girl and wrote that she didn't want to be here.

"He helped me realize that it was me I was really writing about. He'd say things, and I'd get it three or four years later."

Retired Saint Leo English professor Mark "Tiger" Edmonds, whose long hair and biker image sometimes led campus visitors to believe he was a janitor, said Budd, who hired him in 1981, was more interested in an applicant's credentials than appearance.

"He considered himself the first among equals. You know, the way things are supposed to work in higher education," Edmonds said. "Once he decided to hire you, he took you home to introduce you to Eve. After that, I said, 'Hell, if she married him, I want to work for him.' She was great. In fact, I later hired her at Saint Leo for a few years."

Both Edmonds and Bryan said Budd identified with the strong-silent characters portrayed by actor Gary Cooper.

"He was a tough man and a hard man," Edmonds said. "He didn't say much."

But when he spoke, "you knew it meant something," Bryan said.

"I owed him my job here, but because of that I was able to marry my wife Jackie, who he also hired," Bryan said. "Now I have a family.

"How much can you owe someone?"

Reporter Geoff Fox can be reached at (813) 779-4613.

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