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Volunteering at community charities is viewed as a good deed. In Allan Saxe’s classroom, it was graded alongside exams.
Decades ago, Saxe donated $50,000 to get Mission Arlington’s Dental Clinic off the ground. Saxe’s work didn’t end there, and it was just beginning for some of his students.
The retired political science professor, known for inspiring outward thinking and as the community benefactor who cemented his name into every corner of Arlington’s history, died Monday at 85.
On the pretense of wanting to “do something impactful for the community,” Saxe paid a visit to Tillie Burgin, executive director of Mission Arlington. He made sure he could carry over his personal connection to the classroom, requiring students to volunteer at Mission Arlington, Burgin said. If they didn’t, it would impact their grades.
“It was just that love, that unconditional love. And what he invested in, he intended to see growth and commitment that would help another life be okay,” she said. “He loved this city.”
Saxe taught thousands of students in his five decades at the university, but he said quantifying it doesn’t matter, according to previous Shorthorn reporting. As long as he broke through to just one or two of them, he knew he did his job well.
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File photo / Sai Praneeth
Victoria Farrar-Myers was hired as an assistant professor of political science out of graduate school in 1998, where she met Saxe during a job interview.
For about 10 years, Farrar-Myers’ office was next door to Saxe’s, who became a mentor to her after seeing each other on a daily basis.
Farrar-Myers said Saxe became her biggest supporter, teaching her everything she needed to know about her adopted hometown of Arlington.
“He cared deeply about what made a community, a community,” she said. “And that’s the people.”
Timeline by Hannah García; Photos by Ronaldo Bolaños and Natanael Mazariego
More than someone who can adeptly talk about the community, Farrar-Myers said someone who’s willing to give back and uplift their home makes them an institution. She said Saxe embodied those traits, that being his “greatest gift.”
Looking at nonprofits that stand as pillars in the community, Farrar-Myers said Saxe had an integral part in starting them.
Patti Diou, previous executive director of the Levitt Pavilion, said she knew Saxe for many years, but didn’t befriend him until she began working at the Levitt in 2008.
“It puts a smile on my face when I think about him, because he just had so much life in him,” Diou said. “He was just so authentic and such a unique person that, for me, he was someone I wanted to be around.”
She graduated from UTA in 1986, but never had the pleasure of taking his class. When Diou started working at the Levitt, Saxe began inviting her to sit in on classes to announce concerts the venue was having after he finished lecturing.
He was known for his smarts and wits, she said, and would comment on topics to entice shock-value among his students and make them think about new concepts.
“It was just a way to make all of his students really think about things. And it did, and they enjoyed it and they were engaged,” Diou said. “Never been in a class where I’ve seen every student in the class pay attention and actually listen to what he was saying, and be involved in it.”
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When his mother died in the early ‘90s, Saxe inherited $500,000 from her.
He turned right around and began donating it to charities, universities, humane societies and established scholarships in his name.
Saxe co-founded the Arlington Life Shelter, an organization supporting North Texas’ homeless population, giving his all to care for those less fortunate.
For a while, it was called the Arlington Night Shelter and because of Saxe’s instrumental impact, the space has expanded to have seven family bedrooms. Now open 24/7, the life center welcomes people at all times.
“He was extremely passionate about easing the burden of homelessness in Arlington, because he’s an Arlington-ite,” Stephanie Melchert, Arlington Life Shelter president and CEO said.
In his garden at the shelter, Saxe has a “path of kindness.” Written on bricks are names and inspirational passages, showing whoever walks the path that others care and support them.
Melchert has fond memories of the day they stood on that path of kindness in 2022. While he could’ve mailed his donation, Saxe was adamant about coming in person and delivering it to her himself.
In the middle of COVID-19, Saxe stood with her just to talk.
“That memory I will always hold, because he just went above and beyond, not even caring about his current situation,” she said.
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File photo / Matt Fulkerson
Saxe gave his inheritance away and continued to donate, because he claimed to not know how to do anything. People and institutions that do good in the world, Saxe declared, are better deserving of it.
“He gave so much to the Levitt, which we, really, in those beginning years, could not have made it without his support and Ruthie’s [his wife],” Diou said.
He donated $75,000 to Levitt for a new lawn, then turned around and made a donation in Diou’s name. She said once their names were on a plaque in the venue, he would joke and say the only reason he wanted to donate was to be able to tell people to “get off his lawn.”
“I never had a donor like [Saxe] that I actually had to say, ‘No, I am not going to let you give any more money,’” Diou said.
Since its inception in 1988, Saxe had been donating to the River Legacy Foundation, a nonprofit organization, continuing to give to other campaigns and renovations along the way.
“The first time that I met him, it was at the center and I was in a teaching position at that time. And just within the five minutes of introduction, how he made me feel and how appreciative he was for what I do: that alone stood out to me,” Shannon Porter, executive director of the River Legacy Foundation, said.
When fundraising for the nature center, Saxe jumped at the chance to be Forest the Squirrel and helped encourage the community to donate. He went to Arlington ISD schools and excited them about the dream of opening the center and encouraged them to participate in fundraising.
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Courtesy of Shannon Porter, executive director of the River Legacy Foundation
“His infectious smile, his outgoing, energetic, passionate personality,” Porter said. “It was so contagious.”
Students and teachers within Arlington ISD contributed pennies, nickels and dimes to raise $75,000 for the Community Nature Center.
“He’s a household name,” Melchert said. “And it’s a household name of kindness and compassion and caring.”
@amandaLaldridge @pmalkomes