Caroline Hassett Buerk ’59, an alum and the longest-serving trustee in the university’s history, passed away March 11.
“The mention of her name calls to mind her warm personality, her sense of humor and her quiet-spoken manner,” reads an entry about Buerk (then Caroline Ernst) in the 1958 Summit yearbook, continuing: “She is best known as a helpful ‘big sister’ … and a tireless worker.”
Buerk joined Daemen’s Board of Trustees in 1976 – served as chair from 2003 to 2013 – and retired after 42 years in 2018.
Co-chairing Anthologies: The Campaign for Daemen, Buerk helped raise $11.5 million – the to-then-largest capital campaign in the institution’s history – to fund construction of the iconic Research and Information Commons in 2008. She also chaired the Daemen College 50th Anniversary Committee.
![](https://daementoday.wpengine.com/daementoday/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/Delta-Sigma-Epsilon.png)
![](https://daementoday.wpengine.com/daementoday/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/Summit-1959.png)
![](https://daementoday.wpengine.com/daementoday/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/Summit1958.png)
![](https://daementoday.wpengine.com/daementoday/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/Commencement-1024x686.jpg)
“She was really instrumental in helping lead the college into the future,” said President Gary Olson. “She was a tremendous advocate for the college and a dear friend to the Sisters of St. Francis.”
The intimate setting of Rosary Hill helped shape her future, Buerk said. “One of the steadfast benefits of small institutions was a faculty committed to personalizing education,” she told Daemen Today in 2004.
After graduating with a history degree in 1959, Buerk studied law and became a prominent attorney in Buffalo as a partner in the firm of Phillips, Lytle, Hitchcock, Blain & Huber.
A lifelong Western New Yorker, Buerk was the proud parent to six children, grandmother to 10.