Stunned campus mourns Wagner College chaplain

 

Rev. Lyle Guttu dies after being
struck by an SUV in West Brighton

By CLAIRE REGAN
Associate Managing Editor

            STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — The longtime chaplain of Wagner College, a Renaissance man whose skills as a counselor, educator and ambassador reached well beyond the Grymes Hill campus, died Sunday night of injuries sustained when he was struck by a sport utility vehicle while running errands in West Brighton a day earlier.

            The Rev. Lyle R. Guttu, 71, was crossing Bement Avenue Saturday at around 2:40 p.m., near the parking lot of JPMorgan Chase bank, when he was hit by a 2006 Nissan Pathfinder driven by 47-year-old Theresa Tortorella of West Brighton. Ms. Tortorella had just turned left from Forest Avenue onto Bement, according to the police report, and said she did not see Rev. Guttu in the road until it was too late.

            The chaplain was conscious when medics arrived, and complained of pain all over his body.

            In the police report, Rev. Guttu told investigators he was in the crosswalk at the time of the impact. In the same report, the driver told police Rev. Guttu had not been in the crosswalk.

            Ms. Tortorella was driving within the 30-mph speed limit and was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol, police said. There were no tickets issued at the scene.

            Rev. Guttu was taken by ambulance to Richmond University Medical Center, West Brighton.

            An autopsy by the office of the city medical examiner determined Rev. Guttu’s death was caused by the “multiple blunt impact injuries of the torso” sustained when he was hit by the SUV.

A CAMPUS MOURNS

            News of Rev. Guttu’s death pierced the Wagner campus yesterday, turning a previously scheduled holiday luncheon for administrators, faculty and staff into an occasion of mourning and remembering.

            “All of us have a hole in our hearts,” Wagner’s president, Dr. Richard Guarasci, summarized before introducing the Rev. Richard Michael, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, Stapleton, who had visited Rev. Guttu in the intensive care unit on Sunday afternoon and prayed with him.

            “Lyle was my friend, my brother in Christ, my colleague,” Rev. Michael said. “Lord, now was not his time. It was too soon. Forgive my anger and disappointment.”

            At a table filled with faculty members, Patricia Tooker, assistant professor of nursing, said she noticed Rev. Guttu, an avid fan of Wagner’s basketball team, was missing from the game against Maryland Eastern Shore Saturday night. “But I saw the lights on in his house,” she said, recalling her confusion.

            Home for Rev. Guttu for the last 35 years had been a cozy cottage on Wagner’s campus, a few hundred yards across Sutter Oval from the Spiro Sports Center.

            “He helped me through so many times of grief,” said Dr. Marilyn Kiss, professor of foreign languages. “Now he’s not here to help me through this one.”

MIDWESTERN NATIVE

            Lyle Robert Guttu was born on April 16, 1936, in Red Lake Falls, Minn., to Mathias Guttu, a Norwegian immigrant, and Clara Guttu. The youngest of five children, he was raised in the nearby farm community of Thief River Falls and graduated from Lincoln High School before winning admission to Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. — “mostly on the strength of my ability to play hockey,” he would later clarify with his characteristic Midwestern sense of humor. “I hardly knew Latin was a language.”

            At Harvard, he “first survived and then mildly excelled,” graduating in 1958 with a bachelor of arts degree in history. On Harvard’s hockey team, he became the fourth-highest career scorer — a record that stood until just a few years ago.

            Rev. Guttu maintained a close connection to Harvard throughout his life, keeping in touch with classmates, and serving as class secretary and admissions recruiter. In the past few months, he had been planning the 50th anniversary reunion of his class.

            After Harvard, he taught English briefly at the Nichols School, a college preparatory day school in Buffalo, before answering a call to the Lutheran ministry. In 1965, he received a master of divinity degree from the Union Theological Seminary on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, and was ordained on July 21 of that year in St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Queens.

            Rev. Guttu’s first assignment as a clergyman was as pastor of the Church of the Holy Redeemer in Brooklyn. He ministered there for seven years before he was appointed Wagner College chaplain in 1972.

            He was chaplain through six presidencies, and held a variety of administrative positions that included dean of students, special assistant to the academic vice president, vice provost and, his most recent title, special assistant to the president. He served as master of ceremonies at commencement and other college functions.

            He also accepted an occasional faculty assignment, and had just finished teaching an Introduction to Bible class in the fall semester.
 

WEEKEND SOIREES

            Gregarious, charming and a passionate debater, Rev. Guttu often turned his campus home into a gathering place for friends and colleagues — many of whom would not normally travel in the same social circles.

            “People of different opinions always felt free to talk” in his presence, said Dr. Walter Kaelber, professor of religious studies. “His house was a safe haven. He was trusted by all factions; people on all sides had affection for him.”

            Rev. Guttu enjoyed hosting Friday night soirees in his comfortable living room, where it would not be unusual to find a mathematics professor debating the issues of the day with a football coach.

            “He could argue on any subject and loved to take the opposite view,” said Dr. Otto Raths, professor of physics and a frequent Friday night guest, acknowledging Rev. Guttu’s intellectual prowess. Topics ranged from politics to cosmology and the existence of God. “Sometimes we’d debate questions that have no answers,” Dr. Raths said.

            As guests sipped wine and snacked on peanuts and pretzels, the chaplain would consult an almanac he kept next to his chair if a debate got out of hand.

            Rev. Guttu had a knack for reaching out and staying in touch, Dr. Raths said, with letters and phone calls. “He remembered everyone” he encountered in his life.

            Jane and Dr. Romaine Gardner of Grymes Hill, former faculty members at Wagner, enjoyed a close friendship with Rev. Guttu and dinner dates that alternated between his house and theirs. Rev. Guttu was scheduled to dine at the Gardners’ home on Saturday, the day of the accident. The Gardners visited Rev. Guttu in the hospital.

            “It will be hard to think of life without him. He was a permanent fixture in our weekly calendar,” he said.

COUNSELOR AND FRIEND

            Dr. Norman R. Smith, president emeritus of the college, described Rev. Guttu as “the conscience of Wagner.”

            “Every community has one moral leader who, like Lyle, is often its chaplain. When I assumed the presidency 20 years ago, Lyle was already the ‘go to’ person within the college. Faculty, staff and students all sought him out for counsel and friendship. Lyle’s accessibility was 24/7 and the door to his house was always open — literally. It was not uncommon and didn’t feel inappropriate to just walk in,” Smith continued. “That was the way Lyle liked it.”

            “Lyle was a man of extraordinary intelligence, integrity and compassion,” said Robert Scamardella, an attorney who teaches business law at Wagner. “He always exhibited the best of human nature. I’ve lost a good friend.”

            “Lyle was a man of faith,” said the Rev. William J. Preuss II, president and CEO of Eger Lutheran Homes and Services, Egbertville, where Rev. Guttu served on the board of trustees and presidential search committee. “This faith guided him in all he did, whether it was working to provide care for the aging and persons with special-care needs, interacting with the students and faculty at Wagner or in his role as a parish pastor in Brooklyn.”
 

ACTIVIST AND GARDENER

            Rev. Guttu enjoyed writing, and was a contributor to the “Religiously Speaking” column in the Advance, Wagner’s alumni magazine and numerous theological publications.

            He was a member of the Wagner College Circle of Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Honor Society, and a sub-committee chairman of the Harvard Club Schools Committee. Former memberships included the executive board of the Metropolitan Youth Synod, Lutheran Church in America; the Council for a Better East New York; the Urban League; Lutheran Ministries in Higher Education, and Planned Parenthood of New York City.

            He enjoyed cultivating the gardens around his campus home, growing rhubarb, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, zucchini, beans and the occasional pumpkin. His son and daughter, Mathias J. Guttu and Allison A.D. Guttu, said he planned frequent trips to Manhattan for off-Broadway shows.

            Friends and colleagues recalled his adeptness in the kitchen.

            “We are absolutely stunned by his death,” his children said last night. “We loved him, and know that he loved us very much, too.”

            In addition to his son and daughter, Rev. Guttu is survived by his former wife, June Guttu Liman; two sisters, Carol Guttu and Mavis Pfeiffer, and two brothers, Elmer and George.

            The funeral will be Friday, with a service at 11 a.m. conducted by Rev. Michael in Trinity Lutheran Church. The Matthew Funeral Home, Willowbrook, is handling arrangements.

            Advance news reporter Peter Spencer contributed to this report.