McCabe Steered The College For 15 Years
For many at Miami Dade College, Robert McCabe was a kind, intelligent and creative president. More than 100 people gathered at Wolfson Campus recently to remember McCabe who died from cancer on Dec. 23, his 86th birthday.
“I think we can all agree that he, in so many ways, was a life changer,” said Arva Parks McCabe at a Celebration of Life ceremony on Friday Jan. 9, at Wolfson Campus.
The crowd included longtime friends and family including Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado who came to remember the leaders’ attributes and achievements.
McCabe, a 1952 graduate of the University of Miami, first started with the College in 1963 as an assistant to Peter Masiko, MDC’s second president. In 1969 he became the Vice President of the College and in 1980 he was named president, a position he remained at until 1995.
“He understood the challenges that came for students with limited linguistics,” said Daniel Robert Graham, United States Senator from Florida. “Excellence was a standard for Bob.”
For 15 years, McCabe led the College to great heights by expanding MDC into the largest community college in the country. That expansion included the Kendall, Hialeah and Homestead Campuses.
His tenure spanned the United States invasion of Panama until the year Tejano pop singer Selena was murdered. During his time in the position as top College official, Miami experienced highs and lows: residents rioted after four police officers were acquitted in the death of black motorcyclist Arthur McDuffie, the Miami bass sound took off and Cuban rafters inundated the state during the Mariel Boatlift changing the city’s demographics.
During McCabe’s time at the College the number of minority students increased greatly.
By the time he retired in 1995, the college was 80 percent minority.
At the ceremony, speakers recalled how he worked to make a change in the community and students lives. Others remembered how McCabe was passionate about helping underprepared students achieve success.
“He’ll be remembered as a thinker and expanding education,” said Thomas Logue, District Court of Appeal Judge. “He made community colleges respectable.”
As president, he reshaped the school’s approach to education. He set standards for graduation and structured challenging course schedules.
“Bob is a certified genius,” Senator Graham told the audience at the memorial program.
McCabe received the MacArthur Fellowship in 1992 for his work to reform community colleges. That prestigious program gives $365,000 to those selected for making a difference in the community.
“There was not an inch of badness in this man,” said Sister Jeanne O’Laughlin, a family friend, at the ceremony. “In Bob there was a commitment that drove him forward, and challenged.”
Donations can be made to the Robert H. McCabe Scholarship Fund through the Miami Dade College Foundation at Wolfson Campus in Room 1423.