Paul L. Sauer

Beloved husband of Theresa (Bai Hua) Sauer; loving father of Annamaria and Anthony Sauer; cherished brother of James and John Sauer; caring uncle of Gregory Sauer.

Paul L. Sauer, of Getzville, professor emeritus of marketing and information systems at Canisius University and a pioneer in teaching business management in China, died June 28 in Mercy Hospital after a lengthy battle with Parkinson's disease. He was 80.

Born in Columbus, Ohio, Paul Lawrence Sauer was the oldest of three sons of Paul F. and Dorothy Hinkle Sauer. His father worked for U.S. Internal Revenue Service.

He attended the University of Notre Dame on the first full-tuition Glenna R. Joyce Scholarship, established by the widow of the soft drink manufacturer who created 7-Up, and earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering in 1966. He was an ROTC cadet, played on the rugby team and was a member of the Tau Beta Pi and Pi Tau Sigma engineering honor societies.

He returned to Columbus to earn his master's degree in business administration in 1968 from the Ohio State University, where he was a member of the OSU Rugby Club.

Commissioned as an Army lieutenant, he served for a year as an administrative officer for MEDCAP, the Medical Civic Action Program in Vietnam, in which American medics provided care and aid for the Vietnamese. He often went to villages with doctors and assisted in treating women and children. He was awarded the Bronze Star.

Back in Columbus following service, he worked for nearly a decade in the Ohio Department of Taxation and the state's Office of Management and Budget.

Upon completing his doctorate in marketing from the Ohio State University Fisher College of Business in 1985, he joined the faculty at the University at Buffalo. He went on to Canisius in 1990, where he taught for more than 30 years.

A graduate student who took his New Product Marketing class wrote in a Canisius publication: "Not expecting an easy class but wanting to learn, I sat in a classroom with a new textbook, titled Marketing Engineering, and found myself in the presence of a brilliant, enthusiastic lecturer. I was soon hooked. And so were several of my fellow classmates."

Dr. Sauer was part of a joint venture that began in 1984 between the UB School of Management and the Dalian University of Technology in China. He taught two of the first MBA classes to be offered in China.

He returned to China in 1987 for the Dalian Petrochemical Seminar, in 1990 for the National Center Marketing Seminar, in 1993 for the Ohio State University's MBA and Executive Education programs with Fudan University in Shanghai, and in 2000 and 2001 for the BiMBA Program (Beijing International MBA) at Peking University in Beijing. His students became leaders in China's modernization and reforms. They included Li Ping, president of China Telecom (Hong Kong) International Ltd. and CEO of China Mobile Ltd. He also taught in an MBA program in Riga, Latvia, in 1994.

Dr. Sauer published numerous research papers on marketing topics and student behavior in academic journals and assisted the Canisius administration in studies to improve the student retention rate. He received many grants, honors and awards.

Along with the engineering honor societies, he was a member of the American Marketing Association and Beta Gamma Sigma, the international business honor society.

His experiences led to a lifelong compassion for people in developing countries and for those in need. He sponsored several foreign students for their graduate studies in the U.S. and provided full tuition for the daughter of friends so she could become the first of her family to attend college.

His family said that he "gave without any expectation of return; he was grateful to be a steppingstone for others’ success. Many say that he was the kindest person they ever met."

An experienced skier, he was an avid rugby player with the Scioto Valley RFC in Columbus and the Buffalo Old Boys Rugby Club in the 1980s. He also was a devoted fan of the Buffalo Bills and Notre Dame and Ohio State sports. He was an adventurous traveler and sought out new places from the perspective of the people who lived there. He was a former secretary and communications director for the Notre Dame Club of Buffalo and Western New York.

Following his diagnosis with Parkinson's, he continued to ski with the Parkinson's Powder Busters program in Ellicottville and threw out the first pitch for a Buffalo Bisons baseball game. He also was active in Dance for PD, boxing and group speech programs.

He met Theresa Bai Hua when she was a student in one of his MBA classes in China and they became reacquainted when she came to study in Buffalo. They were married in 1996.

In addition to his wife, a former systems analyst and database administrator, survivors include two children, Annamaria and Anthony Sauer; and two brothers, James and John.

A visitation will be held Monday July 7th 4:00PM – 7:00PM at Perna, Dengler, Roberts Funeral Home, 1671 Maple Rd, Williamsville, NY 14221 . Family and friends are invited to attend a Mass of Christian Funeral at St. Gregory the Great Catholic Church, 200 St Gregory Ct. Williamsville, NY 14221 on July 8th 10:30AM. Online condolences may be shared at www.denglerrobertspernafuneral.com. In lieu of flowers, please make donations out to The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (https://tribute.michaeljfox.org/tribute-page.php?id=3255).