The annual Long-Service Reception, held for a number of years now at the gracious University Club of Montreal, is a real community event for Concordians, at which faculty and staff mingle and reminisce, and laugh a bit ruefully at how time has gone by.

That made it especially fitting to have the reply to the toast given by a historian at this year’s edition, held May 8. Professor Stephen Scheinberg was one of two employees being honoured this year for 40 — yes, 40 — years of service to the university; the other was Physics Professor Ramesh C. Sharma.

Scheinberg deflected the spotlight away from himself and talked about others who had worked at Concordia almost as long — or, in the case of “the lovely Jane Stewart, who looked about 15” — even longer. He paid tribute to Stewart, now a distinguished psychology researcher, as “a model scholar,” to business professor Clarence Bayne as an upholder of social justice and black theatre, to genocide historian Frank Chalk as “my dear colleague, who has spread Concordia’s name in the field of human rights.”

To these he added archivist Nancy Marrelli (“one of my former students,” he said in some surprise) and economist Balbir Sahni (“I love to talk to him about a range of subjects”). He praised the enthusiasm of math professor Fred Szabo, and called June Chaikelson and David Frost pillars of the university.

Why did we pass up tempting early retirement packages and job offers from elsewhere? he asked. Because Concordia is “a place of the spirit, a place of dynamism.”

Congratulations to those named below. If you’re wondering why your name is missing, it’s because employees are honoured in five-year increments. Stay long enough, and your name will come up!