Genesee Community College is saying goodbye to one of its founders. Dr. Stuart Steiner is believed to be the second-longest serving, community college president in the United States. He began his career as the college's president 36 years ago.

Caring for the students. If Dr. Stuart Steiner could have a legacy, that would be it.

“A year has never gone by since '67 that I don't have a drawer full of letters, notes, from students or parents that indicate the college has made a difference in their life,” Dr. Stuart Steiner said.

The range of students whose lives Dr. Steiner has touched has changed over the years. From the recent high school graduate to prison inmates. In the early 70s, GCC was the first college to offer inmate degrees in the United States.

"We started at Attica a year after the famous Attica riots. At the peak we had, peak of it we had 300 students,” Dr. Steiner said.

Dr. Steiner believes the most change has happened over the last decade. He believes federal and state tuition assistance programs have helped increase enrollment numbers. That’s why Dr. Steiner and the board of trustees came up with their own foundation to provide assistance.

"The ‘Genesee Promise’ is that no student who wants to attend Genesee will be denied that opportunity because of financial aid, or financial problems,” Dr. Steiner said.

Dr. Steiner, now 73-years old, said right now the college is flourishing, which made his decision to retire easier.

"My wife who passed away almost two years ago, she said to me, whenever I want to retire, her advice was, 'do it when things are going well,” Dr. Steiner said.

Dr. Steiner admits after spending decades at GCC that he is going to feel the pangs of separation.

“As long as they let me come back and play ping pong with the students, I’ll be fine,” Dr. Steiner said.

Genesee Community College