Stanley Bondy: Behind-the-scenes staffer in Newhouse is known for his kindness

As newly minted Syracuse University graduates walk across the stage in May and proud parents snap photos and shed tears, Stanley Bondy will be toiling away in the background.

Bondy will run from event to event in the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communication’s buildings, making sure everything goes off without a hitch, like he has been doing for several years as facilities coordinator. Although Bondy hasn’t received much recognition for his work, those close to him say Newhouse wouldn’t function properly without him.

“I don’t honestly know how you tell a story about someone who is that good, that capable,” said Sharon Hollenback, a communications professor and Bondy’s colleague.

Bondy’s office is located in Central Services, around the corner from the Joyce Hergenhan Auditorium. It is hidden from those who do not seek it out, which is why Hollenback said most students probably don’t know who Bondy is.

Students have probably benefitted from Bondy’s work, though. He makes sure organizations have tables in Food.com and presentations in the Herg have the correct number of microphones, along with many other day-to-day duties. He’s a saving grace for faculty, said Bondy’s wife Donna Till, who also works in Central Services as a coordinator.

Hollenback honored Bondy for a milestone in his career at Newhouse a few years ago — a regular occurrence for faculty — but was nervous about doing him justice. She ended up with the theme of “Stan the man can,” repeatedly uttering the phrase and following it up with something impressive Bondy could do, such as set up 300 chairs in under an hour.

This dependability, Till said, comes from Bondy’s desire to make everything perfect. He puts maximum effort into every little detail and gets to an event hours ahead of people so he can do run-throughs and test equipment.

He keeps calm during emergencies. At Newhouse, Bondy is almost always in the room for events to make sure he isn’t needed, though often times he is. Once, Till said, Newhouse Dean Lorraine Branham was giving a presentation and the video wouldn’t work, so Bondy stepped out of the background and quietly clicked some buttons. The video played.

“Events run smooth if he’s there and not-so-smooth if he’s not,” Till said.

Perhaps Bondy’s most important skill, though, is the way he listens to people, those close to him explained. Hollenback said she and Bondy like to discuss serious topics, but she is always impressed with how he can recall parts of them weeks later, demonstrating that he had really heard what she told him.

Ryan Doody, a student who works in Central Services, said Bondy really cares about people’s personal lives, too. When he first started the job, Doody said he came into work expecting to be trained quickly. Instead, Bondy and Till, who share an office, made him sit down and tell them all about his life.

“They weren’t asking because it was anything they needed to do, they were asking because they wanted to know,” said Doody, a sophomore television, radio and film major.

Bondy is reluctant to praise himself, though. He sees these as normal, as features of his everyday life, not exceptional characteristics.

“I never thought of myself as being anything special,” Bondy said.

Bondy was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, and came to central New York to attend State University of New York at Cortland, where he met Till. After a brief stint there, Bondy worked in the Cortland community, where he and Till live now. Then he went back to Tompkins Cortland Community College, where he picked up photography, a passion of his.

When Bondy first came to SU, he was hired temporarily at the bookstore but was soon moved to a position in the then-large photography lab. He mixed chemicals and processed films for students. Former photography professor Tom Richards repeatedly encouraged him to set aside some time to snap some photos in the photography studios.

After SU built Newhouse 3, Bondy transitioned into his current job, as fewer students were majoring in photography and more faculty wanted to hold events in the building. He still takes the occasional photo, though always in analog and never digital.

To Doody, photography is another sign of Bondy’s generosity. He often takes photos for his work-study students before they graduate as a gift, although Bondy would say it is because they may become famous one day.

His friends, like Doody, see through that, though, to recognize the exceptionally kind man that Bondy is.

“If more people were like Stanley,” Doody said, “… it would make Syracuse a better place.”

Banner photo by Frankie Prijatel | Staff Photographer