By Jim Memmott
avid Colligan came to attend Geneseo almost by accident. “Let me tell you, my decision to go to Geneseo was one of the most random decisions in the history of the world,” says the ’74 graduate. “I never saw the school before I hitchhiked there to start classes.” And yet the Buffalo, N.Y., lawyer can point to two points in his college career that gave shape and purpose to his life. The first might have happened anywhere, but Colligan credits Geneseo with the moment. He was on campus when he happened to read a story on forestry in the New York State Conservationist that sparked his interest in raising trees, harvesting trees and perhaps especially valuing trees as a key part of our environment. Later, after he had graduated from the University at Buffalo Law School, Colligan’s practice increasingly involved timber law, a subject area in which he is a recognized national expert. He also would chair the Olmsted Parks Conservancy, a group that preserves Buffalo’s parks created by beloved landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted. Beyond that, Colligan owns timber property throughout Western New York, though his heart of hearts may be with his maple sugar bush in Colden, Erie County. With the help of friends and family, he taps trees there every spring, then makes maple syrup that he gives away to those who
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geneseo scene
PHOTO BY KEITH WALTERS ‘11
ALUMNI NEWS
ALUMNI PROFILE
class of ’74 David Colligan Buffalo’s man for all four seasons stops at the city’s new waterfront skating venue he helped create.
Playing the long game helped him. His timber holdings have given Colligan a handy metaphor for a key part of his law practice and his community service. For years, he has been an advocate for entrepreneurs and business startups. In this, he takes the long view, just as he does in the forest. Investors and the companies they fund can’t expect overnight results. “A lot of it goes back to trees,” Colligan says. “Every decision I make in the woods about trees is a 10-year decision.” Colligan, who lives in Buffalo, N.Y., came to Geneseo in 1971 as part of a program that allowed students to graduate in three years. In connection with his major in political science, Colligan spent a semester in Washington. It was the other key transformative influence of his time at Geneseo. He got to work in a congressman’s office. He got to study the practice of lobbying.
Most importantly, Colligan was in Washington when the Watergate scandal broke open. It was a real-time, reallife case study in politics. “Where was a young boy going to get an education like that for all the money in the world?” Colligan says. It may have been a cautionary tale, as well. After he started practicing law, a life in politics tempted Colligan. “I wanted to help Western New York,” he says. But the woman who would become his wife convinced him that politics could wreck lives, and he could do more for the area as a private citizen. Colligan came to agree, and he has proved her right with a long list of contributions to life in Buffalo and beyond. Currently a partner in the firm of Colligan LLP, he is the chairman of Launch NY, a venture development group that assists startups.
He’s on the board of directors of the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corp. The Buffalo News called him “perhaps the most progressive member” of that group, leading efforts to repurpose the old Erie Canal in downtown Buffalo. This past winter, Canalside, as the area is known, was open to ice skating for the first time. In the warmer months, there are concerts and other attractions. “What happened at Canalside helped to shape a new thinking about what was possible in Buffalo,” U.S. Rep. Brian Higgins told the News. For Colligan, it’s more proof of what he took away from the Conservationist magazine — a magazine he still has — and from his time at Geneseo. Good ideas, like forests, take time to develop. But with care and attention, they are well worth the wait.