Story by Kenya Rosabal
Jack Galmiche will be remembered by students and faculty after years of service to Webster’s School of Communications.
John “Jack” Galmiche III committed himself to community engagement at Webster University before his death on April 16.
Galmiche served as Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees for Webster since 2017. He was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Nine Network of Public Media for the past 13 years.
Webster’s Chief Communications Officer Rick Rockwell said Galmiche acted as an important bridge to the community and for the School of Communications at Webster.
Rockwell said he and Galmiche always started their conversations with what would help build Webster’s reputation. He said Galmiche always thought of ways to improve not only the School of Communications, but Webster as a whole.
Rockwell said he gets a lot of input from people, but Galmiche’s input provided some of the best influence. He said his relationship with Galmiche was professional but he always enjoyed their time together.
Rockwell credited Galmiche for his giving personality. He said Galmiche could focus himself in a way that brought the conversation down to a personal level.
“You would think someone as important as he was would walk in a room and everything would be about him, but he wasn’t that way,” Rockwell said. “He was very much the kind of person that was focused on you when he was talking to you even though you know he had talked to a more important person that day.”
Eric Rothenbuhler, dean of the School of Communications, said he and Galmiche had a friendship as well as a working relationship.
Rothenbuhler said he and Galmiche shared a common interest in the future, innovation and leading change. He said they also shared personal interests in other things such as food, wine, music and sports.
Rothenbuhler said he met Galmiche when he first came to St. Louis in 2012 in the midst of applying for the dean position. He said the two talked about ways of getting both of them outside of their normal organizations to connect with others.
“He saw in Webster University another organization that had the same mission and was really committed to community engagement,” Rothenbuhler said.
Rockwell said Galmiche wanted to bring awareness to the school to showcase the quality work students had done with hope it would lead to a stronger media connection.
According to Rockwell, Galmiche and Nine Network had a successful relationship with Webster. He said he saw Webster alumni who were interns at Nine Network and have since blossomed in the media business because of that.
Rothenbuhler said Galmiche made time for those around him even though he lived a busy life.
“No one knew how he managed to do all these things and fit them all in one day,” Rothenbuhler said. “And yet, when you were with him you felt like you were what he was paying attention to.”
Galmiche was laid to rest on April 23. Rockwell said Webster will continue to have a strong relationship with Nine Network.
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