AFTER four decades of teaching languages, long-time professor Rogelio Obusan bid the University good bye last month at the age of 70.
Obusan had an aneurysm last Dec. 18 while on a break at the Arts and Letters faculty room.
Obusan’s colleagues paid tribute to him in a necrological mass at the Santisimo Rosario Parish last Dec. 21.
“He was never boastful and ostentatious. Being with him was like being in a sea of calmness. I never saw him with a disturbed face,” Artlets dean, Prof. Armando de Jesus said in his eulogy.
Obusan, who was a regular faculty member at the Faculty of Arts and Letters, also taught in Architecture and Fine Arts, the Faculty of Pharmacy, and the Faculty of Engineering.
“Sir Roger is a big loss not just to AB but also to UST. He is very scholarly. He is a symbol of simplicity,” Artlets professor Robert Montaña said.
Montaña recalled that Obusan was seated unusually silent in front of his desk that fateful day.
“At the back of my mind, I was thinking he had a problem but I chose not to bother him. At around three o’clock, I heard him calling my name and he was complaining about his heart. I immediately went out of the office to seek help,” Montaña recalled.
He and Artlets faculty president Dr. Arlo Luis Salvador II rushed Obusan to the hospital using the UST security patrol tricycle parked outside St. Raymund’s building.
At UST hospital, Obusan was still able to talk to the attending physician about his medication and medical history, Montaña said.
However, while Obusan was undergoing treatment, he had a seizure, which led to his death.
Obusan’s youngest daughter, Cristela Marie, described her father as a very passionate professor that even after retirement, he continued to teach Spanish in the Faculty of Pharmacy and Artlets. He also taught Latin in AB.
Students and professors often referred to him as the “walking bookstore” for the many books he carried wherever he went.
“My father loves reading and he has a huge collection of books in Philosophy and Humanities,” Cristela said.
Inside the faculty room, Obusan’s desk looked like a little book shop, with the precious tomes, for sale, neatly aligned.
“I bought a lot of books from him and used them as my sources,” Montaña said.
Obusan finished A.B. Philosophy major in literature in the University in 1963. He started teaching in UST after earning his master’s degree in literature major in history in 1964.
He earned a diploma in Spanish from the Universidad Internacional Menendez Pelayo, Spain in 1999.
Among the awards he had received were Outstanding Employee of the Year 1972, Distinguished Leadership Award for Extraordinary Achievement in Languages and Philosophy given by the American Biographical Institute in 1986, and recognition for 40 years of service given by the UST Publishing House in 2001.
Last year, the Varsitarian gave recognition to his 25-year service as resource person for the UST history category of Pautakan, UST’s inter-collegiate quiz competition.
He was buried in his hometown of Vinzons in Camarines Norte last Dec. 23. Nikki Q. Angulo and Aura Marie P. Dagcutan
