Past Presidents and Chief Administrative Officers

1980–1994: Dr. John H. Marburger III, President

In 1980, John H. Marburger III became the third president of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, a position he held until 1994 when he became University Professor of Physics and Electrical Engineering at the university. Marburger's presidency at Stony Brook coincided with the opening and growth of Stony Brook University Medical Center and the development of the biological sciences as a major strength of the university. During the 1980's federally sponsored scientific research at Stony Brook grew to exceed that of any other public university in the northeastern United States.

From 1976 to 1980, Dr. Marburger served as dean of the College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences at the University of Southern California where he contributed to the rapidly growing field of nonlinear optics, a subject created by the invention of the laser in 1960. He had previously worked at the university as professor of physics and electrical engineering, as well as chair of the physics department. He earned a B.A. in physics from Princeton University (1962) and a Ph.D. in applied physics from Stanford University (1967). In 1998, he became director of the Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory and president of Brookhaven Science Associates. Since 2001, John H. Marburger III has served President George W. Bush as science advisor and director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy.

1979–1980: Dr. Richard Schmidt, President, Upstate Medical Center, Acting President

1978–1979: Dr. T. Alexander Pond, Executive Vice President, Acting President

Sept. 1, 1965–Aug. 31, 1978: Dr. John S. Toll, President

In 1965, Dr. John S. Toll, a Princeton-trained physicist and former professor and chairman of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Maryland, became the second president of the State University of New York at Stony Brook. By the time he left, the school of 1,800 students had been built to one of 17,000 students and, in addition to arts and sciences and engineering, he added schools of public affairs, medicine, dentistry, nursing, allied health professions, basic health sciences, and social work.

Dr. Toll recruited elite researchers and scholars, including Nobel Prize recipient Dr. C.N. Yang, to develop competitive academic departments. Dr. Yang was chosen as the University's director of the Institute for Theoretical Physics in 1966. For his contributions to the University, Dr. Toll was listed among “100 Who Shaped the Century” by Newsday.

After receiving his bachelor’s degree in physics with highest honors from Yale University in 1944 and serving in the Navy during World War II, Dr. Toll completed his Ph.D. in physics at Princeton, where he helped to establish Project Matterhorn, now known as the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. In 1953, he joined the University of Maryland faculty and served for thirteen years as chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy. Dr. Toll’s career in higher education has touched six decades, culminating in his presidency of Washington College, the first college chartered in the new nation, that he helped redefine as one of the great small liberal arts colleges in the country.

Sept. 1, 1962–Aug. 31, 1965: Dr. Karl D. Hartzell, Executive Dean in SUNY Central (one-year appointment at Stony Brook as Acting Chief Administrative Officer and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences).

1961–1962: SUNY President Dr. Thomas H. Hamilton, Acting Administrative Head, and subsequently SUNY Provost Dr. Harry W. Porter, Acting Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and Dr. Hamilton's representative.

1961: Dr. John Lee, President

Dr. John Francis Lee, the former chairman of the Mechanical Engineering Department at North Carolina State, was appointed as the University's first president on January 1, 1961. His mandate from SUNY was to convert the Long Island Center from a science and engineering college to a full-scale university, complete with liberal arts and sciences programs and a graduate school.

On June 25, 1961, the University's first commencement ceremony awarded 25 Bachelor of Science degrees at the Coe Estate In Oyster Bay. Lee served as the University's president until November 9, 1961. [Stony Brook: State University of New York, The College History Series]

1957–1961: Dean Leonard K. Olson

Leonard K. Olson was named dean of the State University College on Long Island on February 14, 1957. His administrative duties included managing the Oyster Bay campus and overseeing the planning of the Stony Brook campus.

Olson traveled throughout the United States recruiting top faculty as he intended "this college to set a high standard of academic excellence." The fourteen professors President Olson appointed had formerly held positions at the University of Oxford, Columbia University, Yale University, and the University of Chicago. [Stony Brook: State University of New York, The College History Series]