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Former journalist turned PR professional Geoff Larcom looks back on the tenure of Regents Tom Sidlik and Roy Wilbanks
very so often, the energetic, brisk voice would crackle over my phone at The
Ann Arbor News. It was an Eastern Michigan University regent calling.
“Why don’t you write about (insert cool person or event)?” Tom Sidlik would say, or words to that effect. “Hey, there are so many great things going on here!” Not all the calls were negative. Tom would also call to note stories of mine he liked.
But negative or positive, annoyed or
delighted, I never discouraged Tom’s input. The point is we—reporter and regent—had a relationship, and Tom really cared about EMU receiving a fair portrayal in the media. I admired that passion. Tom, who had spent his career in top administrative posts at Chrysler, had no extensive connection to
Eastern before becoming a board member. He simply fell in love with the place. I enjoyed a similarly close relationship
with Roy Wilbanks, who, along with Tom, completed an eight-year term on the Board of Regents this past December. Both served as chairs, Tom from 2007-2009, and Roy from 2009-2012.
“An informed choice for an EMU regent; they nailed it,” I remember thinking when Governor Jennifer Granholm announced Roy’s appointment in December of 2004. I knew of Roy, who had held a variety of top positions at Eastern and played key roles in various major fundraising efforts covered by The Ann Arbor News. I even remembered one of his pet sayings: “Plan the work and then work the plan.” I also had a personal connection with
Roy Wilbanks and Tom Sidlik flank EMU President Susan Martin, center, at the Science Complex groundbreaking ceremony in November 2008.
Roy Wilbanks, Tom Sidlik
Roy. He and my brother-in-law, Larry Fowler, a great admirer of his, both taught and were varsity athletics coaches during the early 1970s at Ypsilanti High School. Larry went on to a variety of teaching and coaching jobs around the country, while Roy, Ypsilanti High alum, remained here after returning from college—the quintessential hometown boy giving back, over and over. Like Tom, Roy cared about Eastern and grew deeply invested in its success. As a journalist, I developed a sophisticated relationship with him, one of mutual trust and benefit, but with a sharp understanding of our different roles. I spent a lot of time talking to him about things other than my next story. That depth led to several scoops on major EMU news. Tom and Roy enjoyed a strikingly productive eight-year tenure on the Eastern Michigan University Board of Regents. Highlights include appointing Susan Martin
6 Eastern | SPRING 2013
Photographs by Randy Mascharka
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