‘He is still teaching me’

When Robert “Bob” Polito ’86 retired from his job as senior vice president at Webster Bank in 2019, he found he had a bit of time on his hands. COVID-19 exploded a few months later and Polito decided to try to reconnect with his favorite professor from Eastern — former political science Professor Jay Cobbledick.

“I was wondering what Jay might be thinking about global affairs — the Gulf War, 911, and other more recent international events.”

Initially, Polito’s efforts proved fruitless. A letter to a West Hartford address was returned by the post office. He wrote to a Florida address and apparently Cobbledick called back but missed him on the phone.

“I called again and got his partner, who was very reticent to put him on the phone; I think she thought I was soliciting for money. I eventually convinced her that Jay had been my professor, and he got on the phone. We talked for hours, and he ended by asking, ‘Can we do this again?’”

Since 2020, Polito and Cobbledick have scheduled a two-hour call each Monday night and have kept to that schedule for more than five years. The two old friends talk about politics, social issues, elections — “Everything is up for grabs,” said Polito. Cobbledick will often get things started by referencing New York Times articles and editorials as well as other news media.

It is clear that the two Warriors think highly of each other. “He is simply brilliant,” said Polito of his former professor. “He is still teaching me almost 40 years later.” Of his time at Eastern, Polito said, “(Jay was) an amazing lecturer. He taught me to think critically and view the world differently. I am still learning from him. He hasn’t lost a step. He is amazingly eloquent, gentlemanly, smart, intuitive. We can’t stop now. It is like a father/son relationship, a collegial relationship of equals.”

Cobbledick is similar in his praise of his former pupil: “Bob is a natural leader. We are literally soulmates.”

Cobbledick finds the duo’s weekly phone calls to be “absolutely stimulating. We talk about whatever is on our minds; sometimes we deal with personal topics. We keep each other on our toes. Bob has an independent mind and is very generous. Everything he has done, he has gone to the top.”

Cobbledick recalls his long tenure at Eastern with fondness. He taught public policy and government at Eastern from 1971 to 2009, and helped create the Department of Political Science, Philosophy, and Geography.

Noting that he was at Eastern during the presidencies of Charles Webb and David Carter, Cobbledick said that “as the years passed by, the students Eastern recruited were brighter and brighter. … The University had developed a reputation to the point where an Oxford University-educated professor replaced me when I retired.”

Cobbledick came to Eastern after undergraduate work at Wesleyan University, eventually receiving his doctorate at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Tufts has administered the school since 1935. Cobbledick was in the U.S. Foreign Service from 1960-63, serving during the U.S./U.S.S.R. missile crisis in 1962. He was also a Fulbright Scholar. During his 28 years at Eastern, Cobbledick also founded a national internship program in Washington, D.C., and ran it each year from 1979 to 2002.

“Jay was my favorite professor, hands down,” said Polito in a recent interview. “Even though my advisor kept telling me to explore my horizons, I took every class I could take of Jay’s.”

Other Connections

Cobbledick was not the only person to enter Bob Polito’s life at Eastern. He met his wife, Lori, as a freshman. It started when Polito’s cousin, a junior RA in Crandall Hall, complained that the first-year students were staying in their dorm rooms and not mixing. The solution was her version of the popular TV show “The Dating Game.” A female student would quiz three male contestants to pick her date, and then a male student would do the same with three female contestants. Bob was a contestant and won a chaperoned date to Willimantic Pizza.

Apparently, Lori was in the audience and their eyes locked for a moment. She later told a friend, “I am going to marry that boy.” But Bob was shy (“I had never asked a girl on a date”) and it took a while.  After bumping into each other on campus, the two started hanging out and then finally began dating. They married in July 1987; Lori retired in 2021 after teaching in Old Saybrook schools for many years.

Jay Cobbledick and his partner, Ginny, have moved back to West Hartford, and the Politos frequently visit from their home in Madison. “We have gotten to know Bob and Lori very well; we enjoy their visits immensely,” said Cobbledick.

“We go up to see them every six weeks or so,” said Polito. “Lori and Ginny are great friends.”

Polito has other lifelong connections to Eastern. He grew up in Cheshire, and by his own accounts, “I was not a worldly young man.” He initially enrolled at Eastern on the strength of the recommendation of his uncle, Ralph Yulo, who had his own impressive career as an education professor at the school. “He wanted me to attend Eastern so he could watch over me a bit. I had so much respect for him; if he said to do something, I was going to do it.”

Polito toured the campus, liked the fact that everything was within walking distance, and decided it was the right place for him. He paid for college with Pell Grants and the GI Bill, the latter to fund his education as a member of the Connecticut Army National Guard. He retired as a captain after 10 years of service.

Polito eventually earned his MBA at the University of New Haven, entered the banking industry and worked for Webster Bank for 25 years. Today, Polito is an emeritus board member and former board chairman of Masonicare, Connecticut’s largest senior care nonprofit.

He also continues to support the University; he and his wife have included Eastern in their estate planning. “Eastern is a jewel in Willimantic that more people need to know about. My wife and I have committed a meaningful portion of our estate to Eastern, earmarked for scholarships in my wife’s name, for aspiring elementary education majors, ensuring a lasting legacy of support for decades to come.”

Polito and Cobbledick count themselves lucky to have rekindled a relationship that had its start more than 40 years ago on the Eastern campus. In keeping each other engaged and becoming even closer, their reconnecting has become a cherished and unexpected gift. In turn, their story is a reminder to the Eastern faithful of how this special university builds lifelong friendships even as it helps students develop their careers.