Emile Pitre doesn’t mince words when recounting the exchanges that took place between himself and Dr. Samuel Kelly after the two met in 1970.

At the time, Kelly had recently founded and was the first vice president of the UW’s Office of Minority Affairs and Diversity (OMAD). Pitre was an active member of the Black Student Union (BSU). Both men had the same goal — advancing racial and economic diversity at the university — and differing philosophies on how to reach it.

“Very early on, we engaged in some very stimulating and sometimes heated conversations about how we thought things were supposed to be run here at the University of Washington,” Pitre said.

But looking back, Pitre, now the associate vice president for assessment at the OMAD, said what impressed him most about Kelly was that he never held grudges and never backed down from a challenge.

Kelly died July 6 from congestive heart failure at his home in Redmond. He was 83.

Since 2004, Kelly had been working alongside UW history professor Quintard Taylor on an autobiography. They turned in a manuscript to the University of Washington Press about a month ago. A week later, Kelly suffered the heart attack.

“I’ve said, and I continue to say: He really fought just to make sure that the manuscript was completed,” Taylor said.

Seen by many as a pioneer, Kelly oversaw programs at the UW starting in 1970 that made higher education attainable for thousands of underrepresented minority and economically disadvantaged students.

“Sam was a historical individual in the annals of University of Washington history,” said Metropolitan King County Councilmember Larry Gossett, who co-founded the UW BSU in January 1968. “Nobody did more than he did to dramatically increase the number of blacks, Latinos, Native Americans, Asians and poor whites to attend the University of Washington.”

In 1968, just 4 percent of those enrolled at the UW were minority students, according to figures provided by the OMAD. About four decades later, the number stands at about 30 percent.

On May 20, 1968, members of the BSU staged a sit-in at then-UW President Charles Odegaard’s offices to spur Odegaard to recruit more minority and disadvantaged white students, hire more faculty of color, and create a center on campus for the academic and cultural development of students of color — and he did.

By September of that year, the UW doubled the number of black students, quadrupled the number of Latino students, and increased ten-fold the number of Native American students, Gossett said.

Odegaard turned to Kelly to maintain this commitment to underrepresented students, Gossett said. He heard about Kelly and his achievements — that he retired from the army as a lieutenant colonel, became the first African-American to work in Washington’s community college system, and ran a minority recruitment program at Shoreline Community College.

As OMAD vice president, Kelly was dedicated to bringing more underrepresented groups to the UW. Taylor said that to some, he’ll be remembered best for making students comfortable and putting them in the position to succeed on campus.

Kelly and his staff helped find steady financial support for these students, created a retention program with advising, mentoring and tutoring services and founded the UW Ethnic Cultural Center — a home away from home for some.

“That’s something most people in positions like Sam’s don’t necessarily do,” Taylor said. “It’s almost like the students are air-lifted into campus and that’s the last bit of responsibility for a lot of those administrators. For Sam, getting them on campus was the first step.”

It was a plan that served as a blueprint for many institutions across the country, said Enrique Morales, associate vice president for access, policy and planning at OMAD.

Those who knew Kelly best saw his lighter side despite a stern and gruff demeanor. He was a kind man who enjoyed spending time with family and cracked plenty jokes, said Taylor.

“He was a real marshmallow inside,” said Donna Schaplow Kelly, his wife of 29 years.

While students of color are now well integrated across campus, Morales said there is still plenty of progress to be made in the science and mathematics disciplines and in faculty ranks.

“I think Sam would be very pleased with the progress we’ve made,” Morales said. “But he would be the first to tell us we have much more room to grow and many more things to do.”

Reach reporter Maks Goldenshteyn at news@dailyuw.com.