Faculty and staff gathered Jan. 13 to say farewell to Neil Bromilow, the man who has had a hand on many of the construction projects on campus.
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Ask Neil Bromilow what the highlight of his 17-year career overseeing construction projects at Elon is and he will tell you that each project has its own distinctive flair that makes it impossible to choose one over the other.
“It’s sort of a blur,” he says when asked the question. “I’ve likened it to riding on the interstate in the back of a pickup truck with bugs hitting you in the face but at the end of the ride, you end up in a beautiful place.”
For Bromilow, who will retire later this month as director of construction management, that beautiful place is the campus he has helped shaped from his design table. After all, he has overseen the construction of every major building project on the Elon campus since 1998, including Rhodes Stadium, the Academic Village, Belk Library, Alumni Field House, the Colonnades Dining Hall and residence halls, Danieley Center residence halls G-P, Daniel Commons, Loy Center houses N-S, Lindner Hall, the Koury Business Center, the Francis Center, a new softball field and the Station at Mill Point, to name a few.
He has also completed major renovations including the School of Law, Alamance, Duke, Powell, Long, Mooney and Whitley buildings, Koury Center, Powell Tennis Center, Latham Baseball Park, McEwen and Harper Center dining halls, Johnston Hall and Holt Chapel.
He joined Elon in 1995 as director of the physical plant. Three years later he transitioned to his current role as director of construction management, growing a single man operation into a staff of five and developing what is known today as the Planning, Design and Construction Management Department.
Now that he has finished all the projects he had pending and gotten started the next wave of projects part of the Elon Commitment Plan, he’s ready to retire. On Jan. 13, faculty and staff gathered in Mosley Center to say goodbye to the man many described as unique, bright, charismatic energetic and funny.
“There’s never a dull moment with Neil,” says Valerie Cheek, executive assistant to the vice president for business, finance and technology. “He always brings something unique to our meetings. Once, he brought a flying pig to one of our presentations.”
That’s because Bromilow is a unique individual, says Gerald Whittington, senior vice president for business, finance and technology.
“Everyone who meets him says he’s one of a kind,” Whittington says. “He has provided tremendous leadership in an area that in some ways isn’t very sexy but it’s one of the most expensive things we do if not done well.”
For Bromilow, it’s all the result of his love for building, something he started doing in 1969 when he joined the U.S. Navy. “You see the beautiful buildings; I see the sweat, blood and tears,” he says. “I enjoy doing what I enjoy doing. I’m not in a sense happy leaving when it’s not done but in a sense, it’s never going to be done.”
As to what he plans to do after retiring, he says he will take a sabbatical.
“I’ve always heard about those,” he says with a smile. “That’s what I’m going to do – take some rejuvenation time. How long, you ask? That’s part of the sabbatical.”
Bromilow lives with Estelle, his wife of 38 years, in Gibsonville. The couple has two children, Ian and Justin, and four grandchildren.