Remembering Gary Caal, Professor of Graphic Arts

A memorial reception was held for the late Gary Caal – a beloved graphic arts professor who passed on his 60th birthday last July – in the Taylor Memorial Library on March 25, 2025.

Caal was a talented artist who founded Centenary’s graphics arts program and worked tirelessly to ensure up-to-date technology for students. He’s remembered as a dedicated professor who often took graphic arts students under his wing. He pushed students to their full potential and was dedicated to helping students learn the demands of working in the field, according to several of his closest friends and colleagues. 

He was well known for using his favorite word – “knucklehead,” which he employed often– and called out injustice when he saw it. 

“He didn’t follow the fashion or the style or abstraction. So, that’s why I value him,” said Professor Hyo-Chong Yoo, professor emeritus of visual arts and painter of the large painting of the Korean dancer that hangs over the stairs going down to the Writing Collaboratory.

Dr. Lynn Taylor, professor of equine studies, remembers having lunch with Caal daily. He had a funny, dry sense of humor and great commentary on working and teaching. He loved going to Philadelphia and being a part of their vibrant art and music scene, according to Taylor. They often took trips, touring breweries. 

Caal also ran the entire graphic arts department, started the program single-handedly, and advised all graphic arts students. He taught some fine art, but painting was his passion, according to Taylor. 

Caal taught using digital mediums, using the campus computers, teaching 3D drawing. “He was very patient with the students. No matter what their interest or talent level, he supported every single one of them,” said Taylor. “That’s really important here, because [Centenary] is really small and the program was really small. And he knew every single kid, their names, where they were from, what they were doing. He just wanted to make sure they were understood.”

Outside of campus, “he just seemed to be able to very easily make friends,” said Taylor. “He was very welcoming, didn’t judge anybody. [Caal] was open to speaking with anyone. You could be sitting at a Phillies game or sitting at a bar, and he would turn around and talk to whoever. He could talk about pretty much anything. He was just a great guy.”

“He was my best friend. He was my colleague. He was one of the most interesting people I’ve ever known, an absolutely gifted artist,” said Dr. Raymond Frey, professor of history. “We spent a lot of time together here on campus, and I promised him, when he got sick, that whatever happened to either one of us, we would take care of each other, which we did.”

As the number one volunteer in the Atlantic Health System, Frey took a physical therapy course and brought him home, got him a wheelchair, and visited him every day until his last. 

Frey and Taylor were Caal’s best friends. Frey met Caal on campus in the early 2000s. Caal had been a high school teacher, but he wanted to teach at the collegiate level. At the time, Frey was Dean of Faculty and was walking across the quad by the sundial, and noticed Caal looked mad. So, Frey invited Caal to his office. They spent the entire day talking. Caal had been frustrated over not getting the equipment he had been promised, and, as dean, Frey was able to help. Caal became Frey’s closest friend and confidant.

“He did as much for me as I did for him. He was good that way. When I needed somebody to defend, he would sit there all day and listen,” said Frey. 

“The one thing people don’t know about Gary is that he used to teach art history. He was not only a good graphic designer and a painter, but he also knew about all of the master painters. He studied all of them,” said Frey. 

As a professor, Frey described Caal as very demanding. “He really demanded that the students do it right, because he wanted them to get jobs. And most of them did and became great graphic artists. He had very high standards and stuck to his standards. Some students got a little annoyed, but the students who got it knew if they did what he said, they would be really good. And they were.”

Both Frey and Professor Hyo-Chong Yoo, professor emeritus of visual arts, discussed a student–neither remembers the name–but she was Caal’s protege. According to Frey, Caal often took art students under his wing. This student, in particular, had an art show on campus as a senior where she tried to sell paintings. Yoo purchased one for $300.

According to Frey, Caal also fought to get state-of-the-art computers, even when the college couldn’t afford the software, because he wanted the graphic art students to have the best advantages and opportunities that would guide them into their future careers. 

When Caal passed, Dr. Lynn Taylor snuck through his kitchen window and took every one of Caal’s paintings. He was also known for painting portraits. Taylor even mailed a portrait of one of Caal’s former students to him in Ireland. Some paintings were returned to their muses. Others were put on display in Taylor Memorial Library, including Taylor using telekinesis to make her son float, a fisherman, a smoker, Taylor’s father-in-law playing pinochle, and two boys playing with fire.

“The paintings fascinated me. What made him think of whom to paint? The artist’s mind is very different,” said Frey. “I have a philosopher and historian’s mind, and he looked at the world differently.”

Frey also discussed a large painting of himself on display in his office.

Frey recalls a day when he was leaning back in his chair in the office, and Caal was around, taking pictures. “I said, ‘What are you doing?’ and he said, ‘Don’t worry about it.’ So, I don’t think anything of it. About three weeks later, I’m in the office and he says, ‘I want you to come over to Trevorrow.’ I went into the art studio, and the painting was done. He never told me why he did it. He just thought it was interesting, and he didn’t tell me why it was so large.”

Caal also hosted several exhibitions in South Jersey and Pennsylvania, where his paintings were either part of the exhibition or the exhibition itself. In addition, he also did a show at Sussex County Community College, where at least 500 people attended. Somebody wanted to buy that painting, according to Frey, but Caal told them it wasn’t for sale.

I had the opportunity to talk with one of Caal’s former students,  Devon Paffendorf, CU ‘10 and ‘11. “I didn’t actually major in art. I think he was a little more protective of everybody who was truly majoring in art and design, which was amazing. I got to take these classes because I enjoyed them, versus it being what I was going to do with my life and career. He still worked with everybody in a manner that showed he truly cared whether he was actually mentoring you or trying to get you to excel in that profession.”

Nancy Paffendorf, former dean of community and university engagement at Centenary University (retired 2018), describes Caal as a no-nonsense professor, highly trained, and dedicated. He taught students how to work in the art field post-college. “The students who graduated from his programs learned. They knew what they were. It wasn’t just sitting in a classroom.” 

Professor Gary Caal will be forever remembered by his friends, colleagues, and former students as a dedicated, talented professor and an incredible person.