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Thank you to all who attended the Celebration of Life for Willie J. Young, Sr. Please utilize the link below to access the event powerpoint.

Remembering Willie Young, Sr.

Willie Young, Sr. was a Buckeye legend, a trusted friend, advisor to many and an advocate for all Ohio State students. Having been with the university since 1990, Willie leaves a legacy that will never be forgotten.

Pay tribute to Willie's legacy by sharing your favorite memories, photos and nickname with us.

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Willie was was my boss in college for 2.5 years. He was such a packrat - I stayed after work multiple times to help him sort through boxes and boxes (that were cloaked to look like side tables - ha!) of old photocopies of everything under the sun that he INSISTED on keeping just in case he might need them someday. I can still remember how proud he was when I was accepted to BG for grad school - his alma mater - and assured me that now I’d be soaring with the falcons. He named me Senorita Bernie because a) our grad student mistook me for Hispanic and he thought that was hilarious, and b) I mistakenly advocated for the old dive bar, Bernie's (their bagels were good!) and he was disgusted by that!

Willie gave me the nickname Madame President because I seemed to always run into him when I was going or coming from a meeting in Bricker or with the Board of Trustees during my time as a staff member at Ohio State. I so fondly remember stopping in to visit campus after I had my first baby. I was picking up my mail and Willie walked with me across campus. During the way he told me the name of every single person he knew who had the same name as my son. During a particularly challenging day at my new institution my office phone rang and it was Willie Young. "Madame President!" He was of course calling to see if I could help him support a student. He was tireless in his work to support students at Ohio State. I will miss him very much.

As a young professional, I had the privilege of working with Willie and former VP Bill Hall where we monitored and responded to issues in the off campus community during the 2002 party riots. Willie taught me something I still use and teach others today. During a particularly active evening in the off campus area, we saw a bottle get thrown from a large party at a passing police car. We went to rush out of the vehicle to get a closer look and Willie told us all to wait and be patient. He said "Watch the crowd. See if they correct themselves." Sure enough, a few seconds later someone came running from the porch through the crowd to scold the individual throwing the bottle and to remove them from their property. "Sometimes they police themselves" he said. Always kind. Always optimistic.

Seems like I've known Willie all my life but it has only been a little over 20 years. Willie was in one word, "Joy"! I will particularly miss Willie during this time of the year because he and I connected often about Buckeye football and other college teams... It didn't seem right not to receive a call from Willie when THE Game was canceled last week. :( In fact, I am sure, it will never be quite right for me not to receive that call or message. I will miss our talks (and so much more) my friend! RIP

Every time Willie walked into the OCCSS office, the staff would light up and engage with him. He worked so hard to help students who came to him. One time we were in the office and he looked over my resume and told me my GPA should be right at the top and I felt so proud. Wherever Willie went he spread love and made others feel special. I’m so blessed to have known him.

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