Charles A. Rovetta (1907-2004), who served as the second dean of the College of Business from 1953 to 1973, was widely acknowledged as an influential and visionary leader responsible for moving the college from a largely secretarial and clerical program to a modern business college. In 1982, in recognition of Rovetta’s significant impact on the school, its students and faculty, the college’s building was named in his honor.

Rovetta came to Florida State in 1953 after serving as assistant dean of the University of Chicago business school. Among Rovetta’s many achievements was the expansion of accounting and finance offerings and the addition of graduate programs, including the master’s degree in business administration (MBA) and a doctorate in business. As dean, Rovetta more than doubled the size of the business faculty and oversaw the development of a comprehensive set of business programs comparable to those at the major national colleges. By the end of his tenure as dean, the college had become a major provider of undergraduate and graduate education.

Ray Solomon, who followed Rovetta as dean, said his predecessor left “a legacy of dedication to the business school and high-quality education and a tradition of seeking the best possible faculty, from the ground floor up, leading to the outstanding business programs of today.”

Another colleague remembered Rovetta as “gentle, mild and quiet speaking, but all the time it was very clear that he was the man in charge. He was a dean that everyone would come to love.”

After stepping down as dean, Rovetta joined the accounting faculty as a professor, retiring from the university in 1979.

– By Barbara Ash