How Temple U. pulled off Lewis Katz memorial service

Temple University President Neil D. Theobald was at the airport gate in Newark on Sunday morning, waiting to board a plane to Taiwan for a work-related event, when he got word that Lewis Katz had died in a plane crash.

"His driver turned around," said Temple spokesman Ray Betzner.

The next morning, as the university community was reeling from the unexpected and tragic death of its largest donor in history, Theobald turned to his staff and said: "Look, we have to start."

On Wednesday morning, not much more than 48 hours later, the university pulled off an artful, two and a half hour tribute to Katz that offers expert lessons on impromptu event planning under the most tragic circumstances.

"We were doing this for the Katz family, for all those people who you build relationships with over the years, who wanted to come together and say goodbye," Betzner said. "When things got tough, that's what we thought about."

While in mourning, university officials assembled a cast of high powered speakers - including a former U.S. president, a sitting governor and mayor and a U.S. senator - overcame technical issues so the ceremony could be broadcast live to a wide audience, rescheduled a city police academy graduation that was supposed to occupy the venue and navigated dietary and customary needs associated with a major Jewish holiday.

And in perhaps their finest feat, the staff at the direction of Theobald, pulled together a poignant five-minute, closing video that allowed Katz to narrate his own life in a sense. Temple staff assembled the video, drawing audio from Katz's commencement speech to Temple graduates just 20 days earlier, as well as another speech he had made on campus, and using photos from his life. Last minute changes to the video were being made just three hours before the service started.

The university nailed it - so to speak, executing on every front, right down to the smallest detail — strategically placing three boxes of tissues on the stage, knowing that even strong men the likes of Ed Rendell and Gov. Tom Corbett would succumb to tears for their friend.

"You knew how Ed Rendell would take this. It didn't matter whether you were a woman, a man or what," said Bill Bergman, vice president and special assistant to Theobald.

As he watched Bill Clinton, Bill Cosby, U.S. Sen. Cory Booker and other major dignitaries take the stage, Bergman said he thought: "It was like I was looking at history playing out up there."

University officials said they held back no effort for Katz, a member of the university's board of trustees since 1998 and a 1963 graduate, who pledged $25 million to the university earlier this year - making him the largest donor in Temple's history. The money is targeted for Temple's medical school which will bear his name. Katz also was co-owner of the Inquirer.

Temple staff brainstormed on how best to honor their alum who had touched so many people's lives.

They had to arrange for valet parking for VIPs and contemplate traffic and parking woes possible from a high school graduation already scheduled to take place at its Liacouras Center at the same time. They had to figure out where they would get Kosher food, considering the service would be held over the Jewish holiday of Shavuot. They had to figure out how to accommodate 1,400 mourners at the university's performing arts center, formerly the Baptist Temple. That meant asking Mayor Nutter and Police Chief Charles Ramsey to push back until 3 p.m. a police academy graduation that had been scheduled to occur in the center that morning. And it meant setting up an overflow room in nearby Mitten Hall because not everyone could be sure to fit in the performing arts center.

Temple Provost Hai-Lung Dai, a classical music enthusiast, arranged for the string quartet.

In the end, about 200 people, most of them Temple staff — from ushers to security to red-shirted and microphoned special events staff members - contributed to the event.

One of the biggest hurdles was figuring out how to allow the ceremony to be broadcast live to a wide audience.

"On Tuesday afternoon, it became clear that our resources here on campus simply were being overwhelmed," Betzner said. "NBC 10 came to us and said they would act as a pool feed. They would send a broadcast signal up to satellite and then send out coordinates to any television station that wanted to pull it down."

To do it, the station needed to set up its vehicle adjacent to the center with cable linkages running inside. That took some fancy figuring, Betzner said.

"The best place was very close to the only handicapped access to the building," Betzner explained.

Arranging the speakers' list was no easy feat either. With help from Katz's long-time assistant, the university suggested a list of speakers and the family added to it. Once the list was finalized Monday night, invitations went out.

"No one turned us down," said Anne Nadol, assistant vice president in the president's office.

Theobald reached out to Nutter and Corbett. Rendell, a close friend of Katz's, was in from the start. Bill Cosby also was a given. The Katz family arranged for Rabbi Aaron Krupnick, who had to stay at a campus hotel on Tuesday night to avoid driving on the Jewish holiday. Family also reached out to U.S. Sen. Cory Booker and historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, whose home Katz visited on Saturday before his private jet crashed.

Rendell secured Clinton, though Clinton's staff didn't give a final confirmation until Tuesday at 3:30 p.m.

"The Secret Service came at lunch time. They were anticipating he'd be here. We knew he wanted to be here, but it was just a question of whether he could," Nadol said. "Their staff worked until late into the evening on his schedule."

There was only one unforeseen snag once the ceremony started. President Clinton unexpectedly met with the family in private before the service so staff didn't have time to review with Theobald plans for getting the family and speakers off stage at the end. As the program was winding down, someone took a note on stage to Theobald with instructions, Nadol said.

As Nadol watched the program unfold, she was glad for the tissues. She needed some, too. Betzner and Bergman enjoyed a sigh of relief.

"It was very heartwarming to know the effort had the goal we were looking for," Betzner said.

To watch the memorial service, go to http://data.inquirer.com/thetalk