“The Innis community is like family to me…”

“Since its inception in 1964, Innis College has been much more than an academic institution, much more than a college to enrol in — it has grown and thrived on the concept of community,” said alumna Susan Vickberg (HBA ’99 Innis).

When Susan began her studies in 1971, the College was a very different place. With no official building or residence (operating out of an old house at 63 St. George Street until 2 Sussex Avenue was built several years later), Innis had a “friendly, non-ceremonious atmosphere,” which “always welcomed diversity and difference in all persons of the community.” This culture, she asserts, has persisted through sixty-plus years of changes to Innis’s physical and institutional makeup.

Susan’s longstanding relationship with the College inspired her to leave a planned gift in her will; “Innis College was an integral part of much of my life. The Innis community is like family to me and deserves to be remembered in my last testament,” she explains.

Susan also remembers Innis fondly as the place she met her late husband Michael “Fuzz” Friend, nicknamed for his perpetual prominent beard (“I never once saw his chin bare!”). For their first date, Fuzz took Susan to the 1973 Hart House Christmas celebration. The next year, they served on the Innis College Student Society (ICSS) council, and two years later — after Susan had left the College for a brief stint at what is now OCAD University — they lived together while jointly pursuing their interest in birds, reptiles, and amphibians, spreading the word about at-risk species and habitat preservation. Fuzz worked at the College straight out of undergrad, holding multiple positions including Innis Café bartender (shown above) and Innis Residence maintenance. He quickly became a fixture: the saying caught on around Innis, “If you don’t know, ask Fuzz.”

They married in 1989, and a decade later, Susan would return to Innis as a student and complete her BA with a specialist in Visual Studies. As part of that degree, she took a class called the “Philosophy of Death and Dying,” which led her to reflect on her own mortality and legacy.

Being a staunch supporter of living on campus — cutting commute times and immersing oneself in the social fabric of a student body — Susan thought it fitting to direct her funds toward an award that promotes harmony and community within Innis Residence.

Her husband’s namesake, the M. Fuzz Friend Memorial Award, given to a student with an outstanding positive impact on Innis residence life, is valued annually in accordance with its funding. “As every year the cost of education increases it is important for the principle to grow through additional donations. It is my hope that the award will remain financially viable well into the future,” says Susan. Her donation is a denouement for their partnership’s legacy at Innis, one that will hopefully echo forward for generations to come.