Face Time with Mr. Nancy Cantor

By Christina Levin

Chancellor Nancy Cantor: current queen of Syracuse University. But who’s the Prince Charming that stole Chancy’s heart? Meet Dr. Steven R. Brechin, 58, a sociology professor at SU, as he dishes about his personal bucket list and Nancy’s most annoying habit.

So we all know that you’re the husband of The Great Chancy Nancy. What’s something that people don’t know about you?

Oh, goodness. Well, I have Canadian roots.

Blog you read on a daily basis?

The Daily Beast. It has a little edge to it.

The best memory of your college years?

My best friend and roommate at Kalamazoo College, now an Ordained American Baptist minister, third generation, was writing three final term papers on a typewriter straight in a row with little sleep. Every so often, he got up from his desk, ran down the hall and back, jumped on his bed like a wild animal, made a totally insane remark to me that would have me rolling on the ground in laughter, and then would go back to work. It went on for days, and he received an “A” on each paper. Loved the guy.

Your last recurring dream?

The basketball team and football team winning the national championship in the same year in my lifetime.

Item at the top of your bucket list?

It’s never going to happen, but I’d love to cruise the Great Lakes in a yacht. It hit me the other day that I’ve spent every summer of my life on the Great Lakes.

Weirdest thing you’ve witnessed in Syracuse?

I’ve seen it all, so nothing’s weird anymore! A male SU student late one night was traying down a snow-covered Adams Street in nothing but a pair of shorts.

Justin Timberlake then, or Justin Bieber now?

Oh, God. I have to pick between the two? Definitely not Justin Bieber. Definitely not.

So…I’d have to endorse Timberlake.

Celebrity you want to punch in the face?

Rush Limbaugh. No, Glenn Beck! If you want to call him a celebrity.

Thoughts on Chancellor Cantor?

God, that’s a loaded question. Incredibly smart, thoughtful, detailed, and can process things at multiple levels simultaneously. Cares deeply about others. She came from an urban New York intellectual Jewish family, I came from rural Canadian stock. Talk about opposites attracting.

How did you two meet?

A blind date. We went to a movie, the four of us—me and Nancy, along with the couple who set us up. Nancy was visiting University of Michigan from Princeton. The other couple disappeared after the movie. Before I could say anything, Nancy suggested we go to a sports bar to watch Monday night football: she wanted to see the match-up between Lawrence Taylor of the New York Giants and Ron Jaworski of the Philadelphia Eagles.

The first thing Nancy does when she wakes up?

Works out. At 5 o’clock in the morning. Nance gets up, makes herself a homebrewed latte, and is on the treadmill by 5 a.m.

What is Nancy’s most annoying habit?

Waking me up to work out at 5 o’clock in the morning.

Why the different last names?

Nancy wanted to keep her maiden name. Also, she had become established professionally, so it made sense to me.