Manny and Meryl Doxer have seen them come, seen them go.

As a secretary in the physics department, Meryl has worked for four different chairs. Seem like a lot? Not to Manny. During his career at Penn , he has gone through six physics chairs and three SAS deans. Oh, and seven provosts.

"Most people in their lifetimes turn over five or six jobs," Manny said. "I turn over bosses."

As you can imagine, Manny and Meryl are quite accustomed to saying good-bye. But that didn't make their own departure any easier. Last month, like so many of their old bosses, the husband and wife bid adieu to the University. Manny retired on June 14; Meryl followed suit two weeks later.

Manny came to Penn in 1962. Initially a business administrator in the physics department, he moved to the School of Arts and Sciences in 1970. Nine years later, then SAS Dean Vartan Gregorian (currently president of Brown University) was named Penn's provost. At Gregorian's request, Manny followed his boss to the provost's office, becoming executive director of administrative affairs.

Gregorian was glad that he could convince Manny to join him. "Faculty is the bone and muscle of universities," he said. "The Manny Doxers are the engines. Without people like Manny Doxer, universities would not move."

Meryl started at the University 14 years after her husband. She began as a secretary in the medical school. She jumped to the physics department in 1986.

As the assistant to the physics chairman, Vivian Hasiuk has been Meryl's supervisor for the last decade. Hasiuk, however, emphasizes that Meryl worked with her, not for her.

"We were partners," Hasiuk said. "The woman didn't need any supervision. Ten years ago when she first came here, she was already using some word-processing software, and I wasn't. She taught me. She made me as computer literate as I'm ever going to get."

Hasiuk acknowledges that she will have a hard time finding a person to replace Meryl. Fortunately, she doesn't have to. Yet. Both Manny and Meryl have agreed to work at the University a few days a week for the rest of the summer-at least. Manny will deal with any responsibilities the provost delegates to him; Meryl will pitch in at the physics department.

"It would be difficult to stop abruptly," Meryl noted.

"I hope that she continues with the two days as long as possible because...I've gotten so used to the two of us together," Hasiuk said. "We have such a wonderful working relationship. We laugh all the time, and she works hard. I hope I can find somebody like her."

Given their close relationship, it's no surprise that Hasiuk refers to Meryl as her sister. And Hasiuk's attitude is typical of everyone who has worked with the Doxers. Peers tend to treat Meryl and Manny like relatives, not co-workers.

Actually, a few of the Doxer's relatives are co-workers. As Provost Stanley Chodorow jokingly said, "It's hard to tell if the Doxers support the University, or the University supports the Doxers."

Manny and Meryl's daughter, Elyse Saladoff, is a business administrator in the art-history department. And Manny's brother-in-law, Saul Katzman, is the executive director of administrative and financial services with SAS. Manny even helped train him.

"Manny's not only my brother-in-law and mentor," Katzman said, "he's also my buddy."

Although not a flesh-and-blood relative, Chodorow, like so many Penn employees, knows what it means to be part of the Doxer family. And he's proud of it. "Manny has trained more than a half-dozen provosts," he said. "I feel like the youngest child in a large family."

The youngest and, most likely, the last. Manny's days of training are over. He and Meryl are now focusing on the future, and they have big plans. Once they complete their commitment to the University, they hope to travel and pursue new interests.

"We can do the things we really didn't have the time to do before without the constraints of having to come in every day," Meryl said.

Other than travel, Meryl hasn't made a firm decision on what she would like to do during her retirement. Manny, however, has set his sights on a few goals. In addition to taking some graduate courses in the humanities, he would like to learn a musical instrument-probably the piano. "I'm a nut on jazz music," he said. "I have a large record collection."

Whatever they ultimately do, the Doxers will undoubtedly enjoy their new-and well-deserved-freedom. And the University will always remain part of their lives. They have many fond memories of Penn, and their colleagues have many fond memories of them.

"Penn has been good to me, and I hope that I've been good to Penn," Manny said. "I'm very happy about my career here."

Return to Compass Features for July 16, 1996