Art Ryan was taken so suddenly that his friends never got the chance to say goodbye, or to raise a glass with him. That’s the way his longtime friend Ray Chambers saw it.
So, Saturday night, at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center’s Spotlight Gala, Chambers asked the room to stand and do it now.
It was a touching moment at the 30th annual gala – an event Ryan rarely missed.
Ryan, the former CEO of Prudential Financial, died July 28. He’s a legend in the corporate world, having led the company from 1994-2008 — not only turning it around, but also converting it from a mutual company to a publicly traded one in 2001.
At NJPAC, he was something more. And his impact was even greater.
Under his leadership, Prudential became the arts center’s leading corporate supporter, and a 1996 gift put the Prudential name on its largest hall. He led the 2004-09 endowment campaign that raised more than $180 million and was co-chair of NJPAC’s board from 1999 to 2009. His late wife, Pat, was a founding member of NJPAC’s Women’s Association.
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“He was the greatest friend NJPAC could have had, and I could have had,” said Chambers, one of NJPAC’s founders.
A lot of people and places share that sentiment.
Chambers ticked off the places where Ryan left his mark: the arena that became the Prudential Center, and the Branch Brook Park Alliance, where Ryan stepped in.
Wherever you look in Newark, Chambers said, you see what Ryan did.
“Look around you here tonight. He brought us together to be a community,” Chambers said. “He stood so tall, and when we think about Art, we think about somebody who’s the best of us all.”
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A video, shown before the toast, was a fitting tribute.
Andrew Sullivan, Prudential’s current CEO, remembered his ability to relate to people at every level, and how that shaped his leadership. He called it Ryan’s ‘authentic leadership’ style.
“He didn’t hold back,” he said. “There was no other Art. You got the full Art.”
NJPAC CEO John Schreiber said Ryan understood what NJPAC could mean for Newark’s economic, community, cultural and educational development.
“Art is part of the heart and soul of NJPAC,” he said.
The same was true of Branch Brook Park.
Prudential Foundation Chair Lata Reddy said Ryan’s generosity knew no bounds. She said Ryan was dedicated to making sure everybody could benefit from what the park had to offer.
Chambers said Ryan’s compass never changed.
“At the beginning of his day and at the end of his day, he was clearly motivated by what was the right thing to do,” he said. “He understood that he was in the position to do good, and he did, consistently.”
Kelly Barnett, one of his granddaughters, spoke of how grounded he was.
“He had all these accomplishments and successes, and he was one of the most humble people I’ve ever met,” she said.
Another one of Ryan’s grandchildren summed him up in a single word: inspirational.
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The tribute did not end with the video.
Chambers, honoring Ryan’s Irish roots, read from the old song “The Parting Glass,” which ends: “So fill to me the parting glass, God bless and joy be with you all.”
He had planned to close with the Irish toast “Sláinte,” he said, until someone pointed out it means “good health,” which didn’t seem quite right.
So, he picked another: “Slán abhaile,” safe home.
He said it three times, and the room said it with him.
It was the goodbye Ryan’s friends never got to give him, one last toast to a legendary figure and a true son of Newark.
