Carol A. Greiner

Carol Ann Greiner (May 19, 1935 - March 24, 2020) (née Carol Ann Morrissey) was the wife of former University at Buffalo President Bill Greiner.Bill and Carol Greiner: UB's perfect pair, Living Prime Time, July 1999, Scrivani, M., Accessdate=8 December 2013.Former UB President William Greiner has died, WBFO 88.7: Buffalo's NPR News Station, Buffalo, NY, 21 December 2009, Buckley, E., Accessdate=8 December 2013.Former UB president Greiner dies, Buffalo Business First, Buffalo, NY, 21 December 2009, Accessdate=20 December 2013. Greiner began her career as an American Airlines flight stewardess before marrying her husband and raising her family. She is the mother of four adult children, including Kevin, Terrence, Susan (Keenan), and Daniel. Greiner was heavily involved in public service and cultural engagement throughout her life of 84 years. She was officially known as the State University of New York Associate to the President during her husband’s presidency at the University at Buffalo. She led efforts at the University at Buffalo and throughout Western New York to improve access to higher education for those with limited funds. She further served as chairwoman of the Spouse’s Council of the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges in 1998.Carol Greiner Named Chair of NASULGC Spouses' Council, "University at Buffalo Community Health Equity Research Institute", Buffalo, NY: University at Buffalo, 7 July 1998, Wuetcher, S., Accessdate=23 March 2022. Greiner also held additional honorary chairwomanships and memberships in several other associations and organizations. Greiner’s affinity for public service and compassion for others supported both the University at Buffalo and the greater community.
==Early life, career, and family==
Greiner was born on May 19,1935 to Robert and Lydia Morrissey. Her mother was a factory worker and her father was a United States Postal Service letter carrier. Greiner was raised in Meriden, Connecticut Beginning as a child, Greiner was a dancer with Tomie dePaola; they danced in events in Connecticut and New York City, winning numerous competitions. After studying physical education and physical therapy at the University of Connecticut, Greiner graduated from a Chicago training program with American Airlines to become a flight attendant in the mid-1950s. Greiner worked on and organized flights to transport Hungarian refugees to the United States during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. Thereafter, Greiner married her husband and worked at Connecticut Blue Cross Blue Shield Association while starting her family. Greiner and her family moved to Washington state when her husband obtained employment at the University of Washington. Sometime later, she and her family relocated to Western New York due to her husband’s employment at the University at Buffalo. Greiner and her husband had four children within five years.
==Public service and cultural engagement==
While living in Seattle, Greiner orchestrated a fund-raising campaign for the first kidney dialysis center in the city. In Amherst, New York, Greiner assisted in the establishment of the city’s first Teen Center. She was active on the boards of directors of the Amherst Youth Foundation and Bethel Head Start Language Development Program in the Buffalo, New York area. Greiner was further a member of Women for Downtown (Buffalo), Women of Studio Arena Theater, and Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra’s Women’s Committee. Greiner was also named an honorary board member of Upstage NY. She was recognized in 2001 for being an outstanding supporter of Western New York’s Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. Greiner was a participant in “DIVA by DIVA: A Celebration of Women!,” a more than two decades-long theatrical production by O’Connell and Company in the Buffalo area. Additionally, she was a member of the Kiwi Club of national flight stewardesses, and she helped organize chapters of the association throughout the nation.
==Higher education-related involvement and support for the University at Buffalo==
In 1958, Greiner established the Yale Law Students’ Wives Club. Beginning in 1991, Greiner served on the Spouse’s Council of the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges. In 1996, she was the Council’s secretary, and in 1998, she served a one-year term as Chairwoman. At the University at Buffalo during one year in the late 1990s, Greiner had 210 days of University events on her calendar. She and her husband were also known to entertain between 3,000-5,000 people in their home per year. In the Partners Program of the Association of American Universities Greiner was an executive committee member. At the University at Buffalo, Greiner was Honorary Chairwoman of the UB Women’s Club and the Friends of the UB Center for the Arts. Greiner was also a leader in programs supporting access to higher education at UB and throughout Western New York for students of little means. 
Both Greiner and her husband were recognized for their outstanding service to the University at Buffalo in 2003 with the Newman Award, the highest award bestowed by the University.Greiner, wife honored at Newman Center , The Spectrum, Buffalo, NY, 24 September 2003, Ward, K., & Brodie, T., Accessdate=8 December 2013. Upon presenting the Newman Award to Greiner and her husband, Associate Professor and Chairman for the Department of Education Leadership and Policy in the Graduate School of Education Dr. William Barba stated, “For me, this is a personal honor to recognize the love and unselfish devotion of Carol and Bill to UB, to Buffalo, and to Western New York.” Cindy Letro, a Western New York Women’s Hall of Fame Inductee, stated of Greiner and her husband in 2020, “Carol and Bill were coequals in their love of the University and of every student. They left their mark on all of us and UB, and our community is better for knowing them."Former New York State Senator Mark Grisanti: Women of Distinction: Cindy Abbott Letro, “New York State Senate”, Albany, NY, 14 May 2014, Accessdate=27 March 2022. With her kindness and compassion, Greiner devoted the majority of her life to making the University at Buffalo a better place for everyone.
==Later life==
Greiner and her husband were married for 52 years until his death in 2009. She remained involved in University at Buffalo activities and events following the death of her spouse. She presented the William R. Greiner Award to the University at Buffalo School of Management’s Cynthia Shore in 2013.Celebrating Success: Employees’ Campaign Exceeds Goal, “The Reporter,” Buffalo, NY: University at Buffalo. 14 January 2013, Hill, D.J., Accessdate=27 March 2022. After experiencing a period of health decline in 2020, Greiner died, surrounded by her family. Of his mother, Kevin Greiner stated, "My mother was fiercely independent, competitive, and felt strongly about public service…what most people don’t know is that she was also way ahead of her time.” In 1999, Greiner’s husband stated about her, “The truth is I’d be much more reluctant to do a lot of things I do if she didn’t come with me...It sounds trite, but it’s like that line from the movie, Jerry Maguire, ‘She completes me.’” Greiner was remembered in 2020 with a public memorial service.
Category:1935 births
Category:2020 deaths
Category:American people