Chief financial officer leaves USC with hundreds of fond memories
In 24 years at USC, William “Ted” Moore was a distinguished professor, a keen intellectual thinker, a noted researcher and a friend and mentor to both students and faculty alike.
His days as USC’s chief financial officer and planning guru ended Monday, as boxes were slowly carried out of his office and his green Lexus sedan drove off campus for the final time.
Moore becomes vice president and provost at Georgia Southern University April 1, leaving behind a cross-campus network of acquaintances, friends and staffers who say they’ll miss the 62-year-old Purple Heart veteran who controlled USC’s $1.1 billion budget.
“My life here has been a labor of love for this university,” Moore said. “I’ll forever have lifelong friends and acquaintances and a long list of great memories of Carolina.”
Moore started his career as a professor in the Darla Moore School of Business, where he was honored dozens of times for his teaching. Moore was eventually named the Berlinberg Distinguished Professor of Finance.
The business school was also where he met his wife Linda. She was a student in the Moore School of Business, and he was a young professor. Linda Moore was looking for her professor “who kept notoriously bad office hours,” Moore said. After she couldn’t find him, he helped her instead.
Three years later, they were married. Over the years, the pair could be seen eating dinner on campus, as Moore’s typical 14-hour-long days often precluded him from going home before 9 p.m. They’d attend symphonies and performances and ride bikes around Fort Jackson.
She is leaving her position as director of legal affairs for USC’s School of Medicine. The two have bought a new house in Statesboro, Ga., and will spend a few days taking their boat from its current dock in Georgetown to its new dock in Savannah.
The business school was also where Moore met Helen Doerpinghaus, then a young faculty member. Doerpinghaus said Moore taught her how to teach. She’s now a top administrator in the provost’s office, and the two have remained close friends for more than two decades.
“He has a terrific sense of humor and makes people love him,” Doerpinghaus said. “He’s also one of the smartest people I’ve ever met.”
USC President Harris Pastides credits Moore’s financial acumen for helping the university survive the recent recession.
But what most quickly recalled when telling Moore goodbye was his heart.
“He’s very personal and caring about his employees,” said Debbie Owens, his executive assistant. “He is absolutely wonderful.”
As his boxes were packed Monday afternoon, Moore blew Owens a kiss.
“It’s like the last scene of ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ when Dorothy is leaving and heading back to Kansas and hugs Scarecrow and says, ‘I’ll miss you most of all,’” Moore said. “There’s a lot of Scarecrows here.”