Family, friends, faculty and others – both in person and in video messages – praised the service and dedication of the president, who led the university to national prominence as enrollment has jumped from 22,000 to more than 58,500 during the past two decades.

Rick Schell, vice president and chief of staff, told the audience that Hitt, the longest-serving president of the 11 state universities, has “the courage of an offensive lineman,” and Matt McCann, Student Government Association president, said Hitt is a “servant leader” who values the input of people around him.

“You were not only tall in stature, but also in vision,” said Roger Pynn, a Distinguished Alumnus Award winner and president of the Curley & Pynn public relations firm. “The community – all of  us – owe you an incredible ‘thank you.’”

Hitt returned the compliments to those in attendance at the packed Pegasus Ballroom of the Student Union.

“If you are fortunate enough to head a large and dynamic organization, people tend to credit you for much of the good that happens,” he said. “And, while such praise can be flattering, allow me to set the record straight. The achievements at UCF that coincide with my tenure have far more to do with you than with anything I could ever do.”

The president added that the steady pursuit of the university’s goals has defined the UCF of today. The greatest catalyst for the school’s success, he said, is the goal “to be America’s leading partnership university.”

Hitt also thanked his wife of 50 years, Martha, for her many contributions to the university and for being his “best adviser and the greatest joy of my life.”

The president left the audience with a key lesson he has come to understand in the years since arriving at UCF on March 1, 1992:

“If there is anything I have learned in 20 years, it is that our greatest danger is not to dream too large, but to dream too small. At UCF, we dream big. Our greatest limitations are those we place on ourselves.”

After the president’s comments, Olga Calvet, vice chair of the Board of Trustees, presented the Hitts with a bouquet of yellow Pegasus roses and framed side-by-side aerial maps of the campus taken in 1992 and 2012.

“You can see the amazing physical growth,” Calvet told them, “and most of all it symbolizes our progress in those 20 years.”

 To leave a congratulatory message to the president, go to  www.ucf.edu/hitt20.

“He had a way about him that made an impression on everyone he met. He recognized the importance of everyone, and he made you feel that way,” said Jeff Grasty, whose father served as a vice president under Millican and whose children came to know Millican and his wife, Frances, as grandparents.

“We should all be really proud to say that he was a part of our family, and we should plan on telling his story over and over again.”

Several hundred people gathered inside the Student Union on Monday to celebrate Millican’s fatherly love for UCF students and his dedication to what he helped transform into the nation’s second-largest university.

Millican, 94, died Dec. 1, at his Central Florida home. That day marked the 45th anniversary of his appointment as president of Florida Technological ����ֱ��, which would later become UCF. Millican had told friends earlier this year that he would like to spend Christmas with Frances, his wife of 64 years who died last December.

“He was a role model for us all, and the picture of a life well-lived,” said Roger Pynn, a UCF graduate and Distinguished Alumnus Award winner who is president of the Curley & Pynn public relations firm.

Pynn first met Millican when he was a student, and the two became close. Pynn said he was proud when Charles Millican asked a few months ago if he could introduce him as his “adopted son” at a doctor’s appointment.

Pynn also recalled a recent honor that Millican told him was one of the proudest moments of his life.

On Oct. 22, he stood before some of the university’s most distinguished graduates to accept the Champion’s Award from the Alumni Association at the annual Black and Gold gala. Although Millican had typed up his notes on an old electric typewriter, he delivered the 14-minute speech entirely from memory.

“As we drove home that evening, he told me it was his highest honor. He was so very proud of UCF graduates,” Pynn said.

That powerful speech was Millican’s last public presentation.

Millican was chosen by the Florida Legislature in 1965 to help plan and build what was then called Florida Technological ����ֱ��. He had a budget of $75,000, an office above a drugstore in downtown Orlando and marching orders to make it happen.

With Frances by his side, Millican worked magic, turning 1,227 acres of scrub and bushes in East Orlando into a university to train future aerospace engineers and computer programmers.

Because the university that finally opened to 1,948 students in 1968 offered 35 degree programs in five colleges — not just aerospace engineering and computer science as first envisioned — the name of the school was later changed to the ����ֱ��.

Today, more than 56,000 students attend 12 colleges at UCF.

Charles Gray, who spoke on behalf of the community, said that Millican always had the university on his mind. He called Millican a visionary who designed the campus’ innovative concentric circle design to accommodate growth and selected the powerful Pegasus as the university’s emblem.

“Charlie and Frances enabled our community to achieve a dream of greatness,” Gray said. “We are on the exciting journey of that never-ending quest for even greater achievement. Thank you, Charlie.”

Millican’s contributions have led to economic development, education and partnership, helping to establish the region as one of the nation’s largest economies. He was also an ever-present public servant who taught in the College of Business and kept an office at the UCF Foundation after leaving the president’s office in 1978.

“He never left his beloved university,” said UCF President John C. Hitt. “Few universities have enjoyed the lifelong passion that he invested in UCF.”

Born in Wilson, Ark., on Oct. 9, 1916, Millican was a Southern Baptist minister. His strong faith guided him throughout his life and supported him as he embarked on the journey to establish UCF.

The ceremony included the reading of some of his favorite bible passages and the singing of his most beloved hymns. The Millicans’ pastor, Rev. Shaun King from College Park Baptist Church, recalled how Charles Millican recently gave him one of his “crown jewels,” a bible he received from the Bellevue Baptist Church when he was ordained as a minister in 1938.

It was also announced at the celebration that a pair of stars in the Pegasus Constellation have been named after UCF’s first couple. Certificates commemorating the stars were at the front of the Pegasus Ballroom, one on each side of Millican’s casket.

The ceremony concluded with the UCF Jazz Chamber Group playing “When the Saints Go Marching In” while President’s Leadership Council students served as honorary pallbearers leading the casket out of the ballroom.

“I think Charlie and Frances would have loved everything about this moment,” said Rick Walsh, a UCF graduate, chair of the Board of Trustees and a friend of the Millicans for 40 years.

Millican’s legacy will live on on the special , where viewers are invited to post comments in remembrance. Donations in memory of President Millican can be made to the .

Millican, who likened the challenge of building what would become the nation’s second-largest university to climbing Mt. Everest, died Dec. 1 at his Central Florida home. He was 94.

UCF has created the special for the viewing and posting of comments in remembrance. Donations in memory of President Millican can be made to the .

Considered the father of UCF, Millican was chosen by the Florida Legislature in 1965 to help plan and build what was then called Florida Technological ����ֱ��. He had a budget of $75,000, an office above a drugstore in downtown Orlando and marching orders to make it happen.

“When I thought about all that needed to be done to open by the fall of ’68, it scared the living daylights out of me,” Millican said in 1998.  “A half a minute later, I realized I had to take it step-by-step, day-by-day to put all the pieces together.”

“It was sort of like having the opportunity to climb Mt. Everest.”

UCF President John Hitt credited Millican for having the foresight to see how much UCF could achieve.

“Martha, I and the university have experienced a great loss,” Hitt said. “Few universities have enjoyed the kind of lifelong passion that Charlie Millican invested in UCF. From my earliest days as president, I have not only enjoyed his friendship but also appreciated his wise and generous counsel.”

“His constant support and sage advice have inspired us all as we strive to build the great university he envisioned.”

“Charlie Millican was a genuinely decent man with a big vision,” added Rick Walsh, chair of the UCF Board of Trustees. “My goodness — look what he started. He was an educator, minister, leader and my friend for nearly 40 years. We will miss him terribly but celebrate a life well lived.”

A special vision

Upon accepting the task of opening FTU, Millican worked magic, turning 1,227 acres of scrub and bushes in East Orlando into a university to train future aerospace engineers and computer programmers. He was the inspiration behind UCF’s bachelor’s degree in computer science, which was a first in the state at the time. It was visionary, just like the design of the campus that Millican championed.

Millican, a former dean of business at the ����ֱ�� of South Florida, set up the campus as a series of concentric circles, a design that allows visitors to walk to any part of the core campus in no more than seven minutes and helps keep traffic flowing.

Because the university that finally opened to 1,948 students in 1968 offered 35 degree programs in five colleges — not just aerospace engineering and computer science as first envisioned — the name of the school was later changed to the ����ֱ��.

Today, more than 56,000 students attend 12 colleges at UCF.

Those who knew Millican say he loved education and wanted to make sure he knew what students were going through. That’s why he created UCF’s tradition of holding several commencement ceremonies each year so all students could have their names read aloud and the opportunity to cross the stage.

“He handed me my degree and then he became not only a role model but a father to me,” said Roger Pynn, a UCF graduate and Distinguished Alumnus Award winner who is president of the Curley & Pynn public relations firm.

“Charles Millican had as great an impact on Central Florida as did Walt Disney. The university he founded has become the economic and intellectual engine of our region, and hundreds of thousands have achieved not only an education but great opportunity because of what he did. His was truly a life well-lived … true to his faith, loyal and loving as a husband and successful at every endeavor.”

Millican left the president’s office in 1978, returning to his first love of teaching. He taught in the College of Business until 1981. Until suffering a major heart attack in 2001, Millican was an active president emeritus and special assistant to the president of UCF.

Not one to let a heart attack stop him from pursuing his dreams, Millican devoted himself to helping to advance the work of philanthropy at UCF and kept an office at the UCF Foundation, where he advised on special projects.

Today, visitors approaching Millican Hall pass a statue of the founding president erected in 2009, paid for by alumni and other donors who named it “Reach for the Stars” to commemorate the motto Charles Millican selected for the university.

“Charlie dreamed, but he also worked — worked very hard — and he molded his dreams into reality,” Hitt said during the dedication ceremony for the statue. “We follow in the footsteps of a humble man of strong faith, a private man who has created a lasting legacy, and a public servant whose wisdom and counsel continue to benefit us all.”

Special exhibit

A special exhibit of photos and memorabilia celebrating President Millican will be displayed in the UCF Library through Jan. 31. The exhibit is near the entrance to the Library’s Special Collections and ����ֱ�� Archives office on the fifth floor. Visit for the Library’s hours.