Center for Community Outreach reacts to retirement of the “$160 million man”

When Robert Leger retires from his position as Vice President of ETSU’s Center for Community Outreach this Tuesday, Oct. 31, he will be leaving behind his legacy, along with $160 million in grant funding. 

Leger co-founded the department with Judith Hammond in 1997; since then, the Center for Community Outreach has grown to serve as the Families First, Family Focused Solutions, Non-Custodial IMPACT, and WIOA provider for the state of Tennessee. 

“We’ve watched him just really make this whole organization explode with knowledge and purpose,” said Amy Edwards, director of workforce services at the Center for Community Outreach.

Edwards has worked with Leger for 18 years; she shares that he has become more than just her mentor, he has also become a close friend.

“He’s taught me pretty much everything I know about the grant world,” Edwards said.

Jenny Lockmiller, the director of university career services, has worked with Leger for 20 years; she also considers him to be one of her biggest mentors.

“He has given me every opportunity to become the leader that I am today,” Lockmiller said. “I really attribute everything to him.”

Lockmiller said that Leger brought a competitive energy to the department, which was both fueled by and aided in his desire to obtain grants for various projects and programs at the Center. 

Lockmiller recalls that succeeding in obtaining a grant did not mean that the department would be celebrating for long. Quickly, Leger would urge them to get the project in motion.

“It was just sort of a joke in our office that you’d get the grant, you’d have a few minutes celebrating . . . and then [Leger] would say ‘this is a disaster, we’re behind’ and immediately we would go straight into just making it happen,” said Lockmiller. “Once the grant was awarded, you started working.”

Edwards recalls being in awe of the way Leger worked to secure grant funding for the Center.

“The grant world is kind of hard,” Edwards said. “But he makes it look easy.”

By the end of next week, the Center for Community Outreach will be forever changed; In Leger’s absence, Edwards will assume the position of acting director.

“Those are some big shoes to fill,” Edwards said. 

Amid Leger’s retirement, Edwards has reflected on what will be the best way to continue to honor his legacy.

“For me, I think it will be pounding the pavement and continuing to bring in those grants . . . and using the knowledge that I learned from him for the greater good,” Edwards said. “One of the things that I will carry away with me from working with him is not to be afraid to get in the trenches and to actually do the work.”

While working with Leger has been a pleasure for both Edwards and Lockmiller, they also remark on what type of person he is outside of the professional world.

“He’s a crazy little man,” Edwards said. “He has a great sense of humor and just a huge personality.”

“He is really and truly one of the smartest people I’ve ever met in my life,” Lockmiller said. “He’s interesting, he’s quirky, he has all sorts of interests [and] he’s let his interests just sort of lead him into his hobbies.

Two of Leger’s hobbies that he is excited to continue to pursue after his retirement are beekeeping and maintaining his tomato garden.

Although Leger’s departure will be difficult for Edwards and Lockmiller, along with the rest of the staff at the Center for Community Outreach, Edwards feels that the passion and knowledge he contributed to the department will remain through each of the people he has worked with.

“I think I can speak for all the people who’ve come and gone through our department over the years,” Edwards said. “[Leger] has definitely played a role in their lives in some way or another [and] I think that we’ve all learned from him.”

Come this Tuesday, Leger will retire from ETSU and leave knowing that he has truly made an impact on the lives of his colleagues, campus and broader community. Edwards and Lockmiller are also excited to share with him that his impact has made it into the pages of the East Tennessean.

“He’ll be very excited that he’s going to be in the East Tennessean,” Lockmiller said. “He said ‘you know you’ve made it when you’re in the East Tennessean.’”

For more information on the Center for Community Outreach, visit their website: www.etsu.edu/research/outreach/.