Humble beginnings, curiosity drive Pastides

Friends say new USC president’s ability to listen key to his success

By JOHN O’CONNOR - joconnor@thestate.com

If he had come from a more privileged background, the University of South Carolina’s newest president might have studied poetry.

Instead Harris Pastides, son of Greek immigrants from Cyprus, said he needed to find something to pay the bills.

So he took up medicine.

And just as his father worked his way up from washing dishes to owning his own restaurant, Pastides has climbed the academic ladder to the top of the state’s largest university.

Friends and colleagues describe Pastides, 54, as methodical and thorough when he makes decisions, aided by a driving curiosity to learn everything he can.

That includes traveling the world with his wife of 28 years, Patricia. The couple has two children, Katharine, 26, and Andrew, 24.

Pastides also has a love of the arts, drama and music, makes pizza from scratch, plays squash and listens to the Beatles.

Pastides loves baseball, but friends say he’s not much of a golfer. And, of course, he is a Gamecock sports fan.

But it is a simple skill, one few have mastered, that friends feel is Pastides greatest strength: his ability to listen.

“He’s just a very curious guy,” said Ed Sellers, a friend and chief executive officer of Columbia-based BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina. “You can’t be curious if you don’t listen.

“The two of them are just a terrific couple,” Sellers said of Pastides and his wife. “There’s nothing better than having a four-hour meal at the Pastides’.”

‘VERY TACTFUL AND DIPLOMATIC’

Those who know Pastides, a scientist and researcher by training, say he is methodical and includes all opinions when he makes decisions.

“Usually people who are at the highest level of decision-making have people listening for them,” said Tayloe Harding, dean of the USC’s school of music. “Harris has this humility about what he already knows that inspires him to learn more before he makes a decision.”

“He doesn’t have the smartest kid in the room aspect about him,’ said Clare Morris, a public relations executive who has worked with Pastides. “He’s very tactful and diplomatic when things get tense.”

Dr. Ray Greenberg, president of Charleston’s Medical University of South Carolina, is one of Pastides’ oldest friends in South Carolina. The two first worked together in the late 1990s on a panel reviewing research about whether dioxin caused cancer. Both are epidemiologists by profession, studying the health and illness of populations.

Greenberg thinks Pastides training as an epidemiologist will serve him well as he leads USC.

“I don’t think he’ll make rash decisions. He will make sure there is credible data available,” Greenberg said.

Most researchers know the language of science journals. But epidemiologists also must learn to speak in layman’s terms because there is public interest in their work, Greenberg said. “He can communicate technical information in a non-technical way.”

Pastides said that simple answers are rare when studying public health.

They will remain rare as he heads USC, he added. “As a president, you’re rarely confronted with simple questions.”

‘A PROFESSION THAT WOULD FIND ME WORK’

The first U.S.-born child of immigrant parents, Pastides grew up in Queens, New York. Given the freedom, he said, he might have chosen a different career.

“I thought I needed to choose a profession that would find me work,” Pastides said. “Deep down inside, I might have chosen the humanities.”

That’s a decision his children have made: Katharine works at the Getty Villa museum in California; Andrew is an actor in New York.

Though Pastides’ recent career has focused on transforming USC into a high-tech research hub, it has not come at the expense of the arts.

Patricia Pastides is on the board of Trustus theater; Harris Pastides is on the board of the Governor’s School for the Arts in Greenville.

A portrait by well-known S.C. artist Jonathan Green, a gift to the McKissick Museum, hangs in Pastides’ office.

“There’s no contradiction in liking the ballet, liking a museum and playing football, playing basketball,” Pastides said. “That’s where we find a lot of our entertainment and passion.”

Susan Anderson, director of USC’s dance program, said Pastides understands a city’s culture can attract businesses.

“A community is judged by the quality of their arts,” Anderson said. “They don’t want to have to fly up to New York every other weekend to get their arts fix.”

‘A HELL OF A RUN’

Pastides said his wife will be crucial to any success he has at USC. Patricia keeps him centered, Pastides said, his feet on the ground.

“They don’t take anything lightly,” Anderson said. “They jump in.”

The challenges facing USC’s new president are significant:

n Spearheading a new university fundraising campaign

• Coping with limited resources while still trying to keep a USC education affordable

• Improving the school’s standing as a research university. This includes the school’s ambitious Innovista research campus plan to lure high-tech companies to Columbia.

A recent trip to India showed that South Carolina can excel in technology with the resources and infrastructure it has, Pastides said.

He said he is ready for those challenges, adding the public could find his ideas “bold and stimulating.”

Making his case to the public, the General Assembly and within the university will be key to the success of any long-term plan.

“Research is a very technical thing,” Sellers said. “You have to put a banner on it so people understand. That’s critical to get funding.

“Six months from now, he may have buyer’s regret,” Sellers said of Pastides. “(But) I think the next 10 years should be a hell of a run.”

Reach O’Connor at (803) 771-8358