Joseph "Joe" Wagner

I am eternally grateful to have crossed paths with Professor Wagner while a student at Colgate. He pushed and challenged me to think so critically that I find myself going back even now, almost 9 years later, to the conversations I was fortunate to have had with him and how much those lessons still apply. Meeting Joe is one of my life's most memorable encounters.

-Helen Joy Balut
Colgate 2011

Professor Wagner shook me into consciousness and launched a lifelong pursuit of objectivity that has made me a more moral human being. I will forever carry him with me as a compass and cannot aptly express how much I owe him as a professor, friend and mentor. He was the best of humanity. Joe, you are profoundly loved and missed. However belatedly, my heart goes out to his family for this indescribable loss.

I am so sorry to hear about this from my mother Esther, I am enid, I always remember Joe and his family in younger days, he always stood out to me, always friendly and really tall, I remember his parents and always going to their house, and my very first boat ride, my prayers all with the whole family

Our hearts were broken when we learned of Joe's passing. Joe was indeed a gentle giant and his way with people - all people - was something to behold and admire. His compassion was real and he was a genuine and unpretentious man. His love of his family and his career was evident in almost every conversation we ever had with him. We send our love and deepest sympathy to Pat and his entire family.

Professor Wagner was unquestionably the best Professor I ever had. I am eternally grateful for the guidance of this profound, insightful, and gentle human being. My condolences to his family, he will be sorely missed. Timothy Voit '91

This man changed my life. The way I think. The way I see. The way I reason and argue and work. The way I care.
Thank you Joe, Professor Wagner, Big Red. You remain with me. I'm here... You're here.
To the Wagner family, my heart reaches out to you with love. Such a wonderful human!
Andra Stoll Carrick. Colgate '94

My sincerest condolences to Joe's family and to the Colgate community. It's hard to overstate the contribution Joe made to my life while I was at Colgate. He will be missed, and remembered.

Paul Kelleher, '01

Professor Wagner was a gentle giant with a kind heart, infinite wisdom and possessed the gift of turning the most complex concepts into their simplest form. He is and was what all students dream of in a professor, friend and human being. He has had a profound impact on my life and I'm sure the lives of many others. We are lucky to have had him in our lives. Joe, I hope you are in a great place and smiling as you look down upon us as we are better people for having you coach us along the...