Vince Remillard, a retired professor who taught for 40 years at Saint Francis, died Feb. 6 at age 81 after battling anaplastic thyroid cancer. He began his career at the University in 1967 and spent the next four decades educating students at the school before retiring in 2007.
Remillard taught French at SFU and served as chair of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Faculty Senate president and Dean of General Education. He established the semester-in-France program, an initiative that he was passionate about and one that still provides SFU students with cultural immersion experiences today.
“I think that the big thing he’s left behind was his ability to illuminate people and their best qualities,” said his son, Art Remillard, a Philosophy and Religious Studies Professor at SFU and Interim Dean of the School of STEAM.
“He helped students reach their potential by being attentive to their interests and their passions.”
Longtime Saint Francis Literature Professor John Woznak worked closely with Vince Remillard during his years on the University’s faculty.
“He was involved in every facet,” said Woznak. “He was in the classroom, he was involved in committees, he was (Faculty) Senate president, he was involved in the study-abroad program, and he was involved in General Education.
“His presence was felt all around campus in all those different levels. It is a real loss to the University and its history.”
Vince Remillard was married to his wife, Joyce, for 60 years and the couple had three sons. His sons, along with their families, were able to spend time with him at his home in Arizona before he died.
“He said, ‘This is what life is right here. To be able to see what my family has done with their lives,’” recalled Art Remillard.
“He said, ‘It makes me so proud to see all of you.’ I don’t know if I’ve ever had a more profound moment with my dad in 50 years of life. I miss him, but if I had to write my exit, that’s not a bad one to go out on.”
Vince Remillard’s favorite thing about Saint Francis were the students and the connections that he formed.
“Something that I’m learning more and more of now is that so much of what people love about SFU are the relationships that they form with their faculty,” said Art.
Woznak built a relationship with Vince Remillard as both a student and colleague.
“After I graduated (from Saint Francis), I came back a couple of years and started subbing for a member of the department,” said Woznak. “I knew him as a colleague then, but he was always Dr. Remillard to me.”
The two men became good friends over the years. Remillard and Woznak – along with Dan Fredricks and Donna Menis, former faculty members at the University – loved to play practical jokes on one another.
Included among many practical jokes was the creation of a mannequin head that was modeled to look like Remillard and fake million-dollar bills with his face printed on them.
“I went from respecting this professor that I was in awe of to becoming friends and playing practical jokes on him,” said Woznak.
“A great teacher, a great colleague, and a great friend,” said Woznak. That’s how I’ll always remember Vince.”
“He lives on. The history of an institution is not just the buildings.
“It’s the people.”
