Robert Greene: Teacher remembered for humor, commitment

[25 February 2006 - Press & Sun-Bulletin - Greater Binghamton, NY] Robert Greene put a rug in his home for his wife, but when he was done there was a small lump in the middle. Thinking it was a pack of cigarettes, he beat on the lump until the rug was smooth. Soon, he discovered his pet bird was missing. That was one of the jokes Mr. Greene used to tell, a staple of the humor he used to teach people about thinking creatively and gathering all the facts. Mr. Greene - whose friends joked that his hometown, Greene, was named after him - died Wednesday at Wilson Memorial Hospital in Johnson City at the age of 79. ... A close friend and professor at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, Frank Maraviglia said Mr. Greene's sense of humor made him a superior professor. "A great sense of humor unlocks a certain creativity in the human brain," Maraviglia said. Maraviglia first met Mr. Greene through the Creative Education Foundation's Creative Problem Solving Institute. Maraviglia said Mr. Greene had a subtle approach to teaching creative thinking and always tried to set a good example. More