By Bill Studenc
The Western Carolina University community is mourning the loss of longtime friend, advocate and donor Phil Haire, who died Tuesday, Oct. 8, at the age of 88 after a period of declining health.
A resident of Sylva, Haire was a former state legislator, past member of the WCU Board of Trustees and the University of North Carolina System Board of Governors, and part of the brain trusts behind the founding of WCU’s Health and Human Sciences Building, the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching and the Catamount Club.
“Phil Haire has left an indelible mark on Western Carolina University and on the Western North Carolina region this institution was founded to serve,” said WCU Chancellor Kelli R. Brown. “He did so throughout his time as a legislator, as a member of WCU and the UNC System boards, and as a private citizen through generous philanthropic contributions. We will miss our friend, and we will never forget his impact on this university.”
He and wife Connie, a retired educator who earned her master’s degree in education at WCU in 1984, have made significant gifts of time and treasure to WCU over the years.
That includes a gift of $100,000 in 2017 that established the Phil and Connie Haire College of Arts and Sciences Endowed Scholarship, Phil and Connie Haire College of Fine and Performing Arts Endowed Scholarship and Phil and Connie Haire School of Music Endowed Scholarship.
The scholarship for students in the College of Arts and Sciences is in recognition of his undergraduate major in history, while the scholarships for students in the College of Fine and Performing Arts and School of Music reflect the couple’s shared love of the arts.
In appreciation for the Haires’ numerous contributions to WCU and WNC, the university in 2022 bestowed upon them its Distinguished Service Award, making them one of just a handful of couples to receive the honor.
In 2023, WCU’s Public Policy Institute was renamed the Phil and Connie Haire Institute for Public Policy in recognition of the couple’s service in community, education and state roles.
The institute was founded in 1999 as a nonprofit, nonpartisan, independent research and outreach organization. Housed in the College of Arts and Sciences, the institute is designed to generate effective public policy responses to important political, administrative and social problems that affect the quality of life in Western North Carolina.
On the day of the ceremony, the Haires announced a contribution to the endowment fund set up for the benefit of the institute.
“Phil Haire was a diplomat and an adept policymaker who was able to reach across the aisle, bring people from both political parties together and get things done for the good of the people of North Carolina and our mountain region,” said Chris Cooper, director of the Phil and Connie Haire Institute for Public Policy, who holds WCU’s Madison Distinguished Professorship. “His support for all levels of education, for improvements to health care and for protecting the environment has helped make North Carolina a better place to live, to learn and to do business.”
Born in West Virginia where his father was a barber in a small mining town, Haire and his family moved from the mountains of West Virginia to the mountains of WNC and the town of West Jefferson.
Haire enrolled at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, earning his bachelor’s degree in history in 1958 and his law degree in 1961 before joining the U.S. Air Force. Upon leaving the Air Force and its Judge Advocate General’s Corps, he began practicing law in Waynesville, moving to Jackson County in 1969 to help form the law firm of Holt, Haire and Bridgers. He served as Sylva’s town attorney for more than 27 years.
He was among the attorneys on the Watergate Committee, more formally known as the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, in 1973 and 1974. He served as vice chair of the N.C. Bar Association Board of Governors, chair of the Senior Lawyers Division and chair of the N.C. State Bar District.
In Sylva, he became involved with the university a few miles down N.C. Highway 107 and its intercollegiate athletics program, joining forces with a handful of other fans to launch what is now known as the Catamount Club. He served as the club’s president from 1970 until 1972
Haire’s service in the arena of higher education began when he was appointed to the UNC Board of Governors in 1981, serving for 12 years before joining the WCU Board of Trustees in 1993. He continued advocating for higher education issues as a seven-term member of the N.C. House of Representatives from 1999 until 2013, representing the WNC counties of Haywood, Jackson, Macon and Swain that comprise District 119.
As a member of the UNC board, he was part of the planning committee for NCCAT, created in 1985 to provide professional development opportunities for educators at a main campus in Cullowhee and a second campus in Ocracoke.
As a legislator, he was a strong supporter for the state appropriation leading to the $46 million Health and Human Science Building, which opened in the fall of 2012. The building, the first on WCU’s West Campus, brought together under one roof academic programs in nursing, physical therapy, communication sciences and disorders, social work, athletic training, emergency medical care, environmental health, nutrition and dietetics, and recreational therapy.
In addition to education and health care, Haire also focused on tourism, agriculture, the environment and steep slope issues while serving in the N.C. House.
He and his spouse also established a scholarship fund at Southwestern Community College, where she worked until her retirement. They donated the property that houses the AWAKE Children’s Advocacy Center for abused children in Jackson County and were active in fundraising efforts for First United Methodist Church in Sylva.
He was a former member of the board of directors for Haywood Arts Regional Theater in Waynesville.
A celebration of life will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 26, at Sylva First United Methodist Church. Interment will be at Keener Cemetery in a private service.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations or memorials be directed to the Haire Institute for Public Policy Fund at the Western Carolina University Foundation, 1 University Drive, 201 H.F. Robinson Administration Building, Cullowhee, N.C, 28723. Online memorials may be made at give.wcu.edu/haire.