Two Memorials to be Established for Professor Greg Sapp, PhD

portrait of the late Dr. Greg Sapp
portrait of the late Dr. Greg Sapp
Greg Sapp, PhD

Dear friends, colleagues, alumni and students of Dr. Gregory Sapp,

We are reaching out to inform you of two Stetson memorials being established to honor the life and legacy of Professor Greg Sapp, PhD.

Dr. Sapp was a Professor of Religious Studies from 2006 to 2020, the former Hal S. Marchman Chair of Civic and Social Responsibility, faculty advisor for the Bonner Scholars Program and instructor for its required First Year Seminar, “Self and World.”

If you feel so moved, please consider a gift in any amount to support the installation of a memorial bench outside the window of Dr. Sapp’s former office in Allen Hall. So many who loved Dr. Sapp remember the jovial text messages he would send as he noticed a treasured student, colleague or friend walk by his window. He always gave the gift of time to anyone who visited him inside his office, so the memorial bench by his window is an absolutely fitting way to memorialize his love for teaching and mentoring.

In addition to the bench, which will be dedicated during Homecoming 2022 on Oct. 28-30, a memorial has been created to remember the impact Dr. Sapp had on countless students through his contributions to the joint College of Law and DeLand campus Civil Rights Travel Course.

Group photo on the Civil Rights Travel Course
Professor Greg Sapp, PhD, third from left, traveled with Stetson students for more than a decade on the Freedom Riders summer program, retracing Civil Rights history. Rip Patton, an original Freedom Rider, is seated far left.

This memorial includes the original framed photo of Dr. Martin Luther King as he emerged from the Birmingham Jail. The photo was given to Bob Bickel, Stetson Law Professor Emeritus and the course founder, by Dr. King’s personal photographer and friend, Chris McNair, whose 11-year-old daughter, Denise, had been killed when the Ku Klux Klan bombed the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church on Sept. 15, 1963.

Upon his retirement, Professor Bickel gave this treasured photo to Dr. Sapp. As a part of our memorial for Dr. Sapp, the photo and story of his involvement with the course are now framed and located in the south lobby of the 2nd floor of the Carlton Union Building.

Framed photo of Dr. Martin Luther King and Dr. Greg Sapp in the CUB
Professor Greg Sapp’s treasured photo of Dr. Martin Luther King now hangs in the Carlton Union Building.

Thank you for supporting the lasting legacy of our friend, mentor and colleague, Dr. Gregory Sapp, with these two memorials, which will cost a total of $5,000. If you have questions or comments, please feel free to email Rina Arroyo at [email protected] or Grady Ballenger at [email protected]. If you would like to make a gift, you may either click here to make an online contribution or send a check to:

Rina Arroyo
Stetson University
421 N. Woodland Blvd., Unit 8279
DeLand, FL  32723

portrait of Greg Sapp
Greg Sapp

*Please make checks payable to Stetson University and write Greg Sapp Memorial Fund in the memo section.

“I do not pretend to know what you all need to do with your lives. I just want to provide a ‘place’ where you can do thought experiments without judgment and without being told you should do something else. I ask questions only to help you think about things from a perspective you might not have considered. Whatever you decide is best for you is what I will support.”
-Excerpt from an email Dr. Sapp sent to his treasured students

In community,
Rina Arroyo, Grady Ballenger and Alex Sanchez ‘12