Columbia Athletics mourns the loss of Dick Savitt

Columbia University Athletics mourns Dick Savitt, after whom the former Columbia Tennis Center was named. Savitt died on Friday at the age of 95.

“We are very saddened to hear of the passing of Dick Savitt,” Campbell Family Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Peter Pilling said. “We will always remember him as a world-renowned tennis champion who modestly gave of his time and talents to our men’s tennis program. His impact on our program and the tennis community will forever be felt. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family at this time.”

Born in Bayonne, New Jersey, Richard Savitt was a former professional tennis player who won both the Australian and Wimbledon men’s singles titles in 1951. The first Jewish player to win Wimbledon, he retired the following year at the age of 24 after winning the 1952 US National Indoor Singles Championships. Enshrined in the International Tennis Hall of Fame, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Men’s Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame and the USTA Eastern Tennis Hall of Fame, Savitt is the second of only four American men to win both the Australian and British Championships at the same time. year.

Savitt was a close friend of legendary former Columbia Tennis alumnus and friend of men’s tennis head coach Bidyut K. Bid Goswami for nearly 40 years. Savitt would coach and mentor tennis student-athletes, and Goswami felt the best way to pay tribute to the Grand Slam champion was to name the facility after him. The indoor facility was named in his honor when it opened in March 2002 and served as the home court for the men’s and women’s varsity tennis teams until ground was broken for its replacement, the new Columbia Tennis Center, in 2021.

Goswami, who retired in 2019 after an illustrious 37-year career, shared his condolences on the passing of Dick Savitt. “The world of tennis has lost an absolute icon, and in Dick Savitt I have lost a great friend and mentor,” Goswami said. “He was a passionate and unassuming tennis player who touched the lives of so many players and made such an impact on the Columbia program and the tennis community at large. He leaves behind an indelible legacy.”

“Mr. Savitt was a wonderful person who helped so many young people around the world believe in themselves and achieve their dreams,” said Bidyut K. Goswami, Men’s Tennis Head Coach and Director of Tennis Operations. Howard Endelman ’87CC. “We first met in Israel in 1981, then he was so supportive of me when I played at Columbia and the rest of his life. He loved tennis and helping others in any way he could. He was a really good man.”

After his tennis career, Savitt started an oil business in Louisiana. He then worked at Lehman Brothers on Wall Street and joined Schroders in 1985.

Savitt is survived by his son Robert (Bob) Savitt and three grandchildren.