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When President Joe Biden L’68, H’09 first visited the Syracuse University campus in 1965, he knew he wanted to attend law school. So when he had a few hours to spare while waiting for his then-girlfriend and later first wife Neilia Hunter to finish work, he decided to explore the University’s library.

Instead, he ended up walking into the dean’s office.

The 46th president recounted his serendipitous start at Syracuse University to an audience packed into the Melanie Gray Ceremonial Courtroom in the ‘s Dineen Hall Tuesday for the unveiling of his portrait.

“By accident,” Biden said. “I swear to God, I thought I was walking into the library.”

When the woman running the office asked if he was there to see the dean, he told her he didn’t mean to come in but was thinking about law school. Before he knew it, he said she had him talking to the dean, who arranged a financial aid offer and a resident advisor position. An application was filled out before he left.

Syracuse, he told the audience, is where he began to see the pieces coming together that would shape his approach to law and public service throughout his career.

“Syracuse is a place where I began to develop an understanding of the powerful impact the law can have in making the world a better place,” Biden said. “I began to see how values I’ve learned at home, at my kitchen table with my mom and dad, were really reflected in American jurisprudence, in our institutions. As I saw through the torts and contracts and struggled with property law, my favorite course was constitutional law. I heard my parents’ words ringing in my ears, ‘Dignity, Joey, respect, fairness, equity, equality. That’s what America is all about.’”

A Portrait to Honor and Inspire

Celebrating Biden’s life of public service, the ceremonial unveiling of his portrait was witnessed by members of his family; University community members; and state and local officials, including Gov. Kathy Hochul ’80.

College of Law Dean Terence Lau L’98 told attendees the University was determined to honor Biden, who has maintained a close connection with the campus, delivering the Commencement addresses four times at the law school and at the University in 2009, in a way that was “impactful, lasting and inspirational.”

The portrait was commissioned by the University and painted by artist , one of America’s foremost portrait artists, whose works hang in the U.S. Capitol, the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery and the Pentagon.

“Our hope is that this portrait will inspire generations of law students to come, a proud reminder to every student who walks through our library doors of what is possible when you combine a Syracuse law education with the courage to serve something larger than yourself,” Lau said.

Jeffrey Scruggs, chairman of the University Board of Trustees, noted in his remarks that Biden’s connection to Syracuse “runs deep and long” and reflected on the former president’s impact on the community and Central New York though landmark legislation, including the and the .

“President Biden had the will to invest in great cities like Syracuse throughout the nation, and it’s here in Syracuse, at his beloved alma mater, where President Biden’s portrait will hang,” Scruggs said.

Scruggs said in Biden’s portrait, law students will be able to look up and see the face of someone whose life of service started in the same place their own careers will begin.

“To our law students, may that always serve as a reminder that there are no limits to where a Syracuse Law degree can take you,” Scruggs said.

A Lifelong Foundation and Community

Biden’s remarks reflected on the deep impact the University had on him both professionally and personally. He recalled the only head-to-head election he ever lost in his career was the race for class president his first year against classmate and Trustee William “Bill” Brodsky ’65, L’68, who became a close friend.

“Since the time I left Syracuse, life has handed me significant highlights and very low blows,” Biden said. “The Syracuse community has been with me through it all.”

But what Biden said he was most proud of when he talks about Syracuse is his son, Beau L’94, who died in 2015 from brain cancer, and in whose memory the University established a scholarship.

“To be very honest with you,” Biden said. “I assumed one day Beau would be standing here and not me. I give you my word for that. He was more qualified and a hell of a man.”

Both he and his son took the legal grounding they found at Syracuse and carried it with them their entire time in public service, he said.

“Everything I did as an elected official was all an extension of what I learned here at Syracuse,” Biden said.

Biden said studying the Constitution at Syracuse, he began to understand democracy is the soul of the nation.

“Whatever my legacy may be, I hope it will be said that I never stopped striving for the cause of democracy,” he said. “And I hope that long after I’m gone, future classes of Syracuse law students see the portrait and are reminded not of me, but of the greatness and power of our democracy.”