" ..[this] has been the greatest 'credo' of my life ever since I decided that I would rather be an artist than a careerist. I would rather impress my image (even though an image the size of a nickel) upon the soul of a people than be known except insofar as I have my natural obligation to my family to provide for them. I would as soon be as anonymous as Rimbaud, if I could feel that I had accomplished that purpose and that is no sentimental yapping about being disinterested. It is simply that, having once found the intensity of art, nothing else that can happen in life can ever again seem as important as the creative process."

Werner was driven by the creative act to a degree that most of us would not think possible. This aspect of his personality alone is enough to make his passing a painful and dulling absence in the lives of those people and institutions he came into contact with, but in Werner's life this intensity shared an equal if not greater part with the desire to see others experience and acquire this same passion. His methods to instill this passion were many and varied; his students will never forget the clarity, concision and gravity of his drawings and anecdotal illustrations, and never cease to be amazed that the same mind could create the circuitous and complex almost riddle-like arguments in lectures. His colleagues will remember the challenge presented by his sudden presence on a review and the unqualified support for and contributions to their academic endeavors. But along with the talent of the architect, the wisdom of the pedagogue and the drama of his persona was a Werner far more subtle and no less profound - the orchestrator of human chemistry.

I never worked in Werner's office and never taught at Syracuse University. Yet, two years ago while talking with Werner in Chatham I realized the degree to which my values, not merely my architectural values, had been formed by the opportunities that Werner had put in place at a time long before I would have the privilege of calling him my friend. I was also amazed at how conscious and proud he was of the impact of those opportunities. I am in this respect typical of my generation of people that came into contact with Werner; profoundly, almost insidiously influenced by him and only marginally aware of the calculation and generosity associated with the many opportunities that he made possible. Werner's direct support of his associates is well known; one need only mention an application for an award, fellowship or position; the response was immediate a letter of recommendation as well as clandestine supportive phone calls. This support even extended to generosity with architectural commissions, a tradition barely alive in this day and age. But his influence on a broader scale, though less obvious, was equally generous; one need only think of the number of people teachers and students, that went through Syracuse University and on to Florence and the degree to which the body of knowledge intimated by this passage influenced an entire generation of contemporary architectural educators. In European architectural circles Syracuse University was seen as a friendly harbor whose commerce was the exchange of ideas and values.

I recently heard Mike Dennis give a toast at an event that had nothing whatsoever to do with Werner Seligmann, that went something like: "I was the teacher of many people here but there was only one person who was the teacher of every single person here" - everyone instinctively turned to Werner. As a matter of fact many people there did not have Werner directly as a teacher, including myself. However, Mike's toast describes the family tree that most people unconsciously construct which is the clearest metaphor with which to describe Werner's effect as an orchestrator of human chemistry.

The West Indian banyan tree reaches outward with tremendous limbs. These limbs extend so far from the trunk that they grow branches down to the earth to support themselves. These vertical branches eventually grow their own roots and make a network which can extend for acres and is in itself a small forest. When the mammoth original tree eventually disappears the organization of the network is no longer obvious. The limbs however, continue to live and to thrive and remain intertwined. The banyan tree has always presented a conundrum to modern biological models of life because it is difficult to say whether the original tree ever dies."