RWU Remembers Former President Roy Nirschel

Nirschel, who died April 16, served as president from 2001 to 2010

Public Affairs
Roy Nirschel
Roy Nirschel

BRISTOL, R.I.  Roy J. Nirschel, who served as president of Roger Williams University from July 2001 to July 2010, died unexpectedly on Monday, April 16, 2018, in Vietnam, family members have confirmed. He was 66.

During President Nirschel’s decade-long tenure, RWU’s enrollment grew by 12 percent, and significant new buildings opened on the Bristol campus, including the Campus Recreation Center, the Commons dining hall, Global Heritage Hall and the North Campus Residence Hall. The University expanded its study-abroad programs and launched a “Passport to the Future” program, awarding passports to students with good grades. President Nirschel’s then-wife, Paula Nirschel, initiated a scholarship program for Afghan women in 2002, and then-First Lady Laura Bush praised the Initiative to Educate Afghan Women when delivering the commencement speech at RWU in 2006.

Before becoming RWU’s eighth president, Nirschel served as president of Newbury College, in Brookline, Mass., from 1998 to 2001. He worked as vice president for university advancement at the University of Miami from 1991 to 1998. He was assistant vice president at the University of Pittsburgh from 1986 to 1991 and served as executive director of development at the University of Hartford from 1982 to 1986.

Nirschel grew up in Stamford, Conn., and graduated from Southern Connecticut State University, in New Haven, Conn. He earned a master’s degree in public administration and a doctorate in higher education from the University of Miami.

After leaving RWU, Nirschel served as founding president of the American University in Vietnam, and he wrote a 2013 book titled “My Seasons in Saigon.”

Please join us in offering condolences to President Nirschel’s family and friends, especially his children Jane ’06, Chris and Susie. A celebration of life will be held during an open memorial at 2 p.m. Monday, April 23, 2018, at St. Francis of Assisi Church, 135 W. 31st St., New York City, N.Y. 10011. Those attending are invited to join the family immediately after the memorial at Good Night Sonny, 134 1st Ave., New York City.