Former University President John Oswald might best be remembered for his leadership style during an unsettling time across the nation and an ability to let people know what he thought.

Oswald, 77, died in his Philadelphia home yesterday after a history of heart problems. Now many are recalling the student distress and financial strife he dealt with during his 13 year tenure at the University.

The former president came to the University in 1970 with the experience necessary to deal with student unrest, said Charles Hosler, retired professor of meteorology and former senior vice president for research and dean of the Graduate School. Oswald was the University of California vice president for administration before coming to Penn State.

"He came in at a time when the institution needed leadership," Hosler said. "It was a time of trouble here."

Robert Dunham, senior vice president and dean of the Commonwealth Educational System, remembers when Oswald was called "Jack the Rapper" early in his tenure -- so named for the large amount of time he spent with students.

"There were riots going on across the country -- he understood the need to talk to students and listen to their concerns," Dunham said.

And current students still reap the benefits of Oswald's Penn State legacy. He is responsible for contact they now have with the University Board of Trustees and the administration.

During his tenure, trustee meetings first became open to the public and the board was restructured. He requested that three students -- the president of the Undergraduate Student Government, the president of the Graduate Student Association and a Commonwealth Campus representative -- be allowed to sit as observers at trustees' meetings.

As the thirteenth University president, from 1970 to 1983 Oswald also encountered a complicated fiscal and academic period. He set direction for the University by using the 1972 Academic Policy Plan and the Perspective on the '80s. It set guidelines for the then-upcoming growth in enrollments and Commonwealth Campuses.

Eventually, because of his budgeting processes, $30 million was reallocated to University colleges and administrative units, while institutions across the nation were struggling to make ends meet.

"Things were up and down fiscally," Hosler said. "He kept things on an even keel."

Hosler recalled the first year of Oswald's tenure when the Unversity endured a coal strike -- one that entailed baseball bat-carrying-strikers and other forms of violence.

"The teamsters went on strike, there was student unrest -- it was a three-ring circus," Hosler said. "He was able to keep his head during nervous days."

Later in Oswald's tenure, Dunham said he is remembered for starting massive University building and development, which resulted in construction of 11 buildings at the University and five additions to the Hershey Medical Center.

Before Oswald started working with the other universities in Pennsylvania, Dunham said Penn State had an "imperialistic image," which Oswald managed to turn around.

"That quality is probably what got him elected president of the (Association of American Universities)," Dunham said.

And although some will remember him for his many professional achievements, Dunham also knew Oswald on a personal level -- recalling a trip the two men and their wives took to Europe and a chat they had 10 days ago.

"Jack was a hot kind of guy -- you always knew where you stood with him," Dunham said. "He had a temper that blew, but he was a likeable kind of guy."

Oswald is survived by his wife, Rose, and three children -- Elizabeth Browne, Nancy and John Jr. and four granddaughters.

Services will be held 2 p.m. on Saturday at St. Martin's-in-the-Field Episcopal Church in Philadelphia with a reception following at the church. Funeral arrangements are being made by the Jacob Ruth Funeral Home, Philadelphia.