Citrus FLS International English instructor Bob Coulter died in the Earth Science building on May 8.
FLS International is a third-party foreign exchange program for students to learn English in the United States.
An international student, Heeyeon, said one of her classmates found Coulter on a restroom floor in the Earth Science building. Heeyeon, who did not want to give her last name, cried. Coulter’s class was moved to CI 159 in the morning. Several of his students stood outside weeping and talking with each other.
Heeyeon said Coulter was “a very kind professor.”
“He was a great great, teacher, that’s why it’s impacting everybody so much,” said Dave Allaband, the Citrus FLS Academic Director. “A lot of the students would get to know America through him. He would be their first teacher.”
Allaband said Coulter died around 9:20 a.m. He was in his seventies.
Coulter’s supervisors said they never heard any negativity about his classes.
“He had some way, and I don’t how he did it, but there was always joy in his classroom,” Allaband said. “Nobody was ever bored. I never looked through the window and saw anyone sitting down. You’d hear his classes roaring through the wall.”
Another FLS Academic Director, Robert Campbell said Coulter “absolutely loved to teach.”
“They were loud, that’s for sure, but loud in a good way,” Campbell said. “Students loved him, and he found a way to engage students from many cultures and all kinds of different nationalities.”
Allaband praised Coulter’s work.
“To say he was like a father was not even enough, ” Allaband said. “He was like everyone’s saint.”
The FLS directors said Coulter’s widow escorted his body off campus. They did not know what caused his death.
