A member of the Cortland Normal School Class of 1916, Francis J. Moench returned to his Alma Mater as a faculty member in 1923. During the next 30 years, Moench taught physical education, became the first chair of the Department of Men's Physical Education, chaired the Department of Health and Physical Education, directed the Division of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, and served as dean of the College.
In his early years on the faculty, Moench was director of athletics. He started the varsity soccer program and coached basketball, baseball and track. He is credited with having established the high standards of sportsmanship and conduct that have long been the hallmark of Cortland's athletic programs.
In 1923, Moench was the only male on the four-person physical education faculty. He and Bessie Park '01 were named "co-heads" of the newly formed Physical Education Department. Two years later, he was named chair of the separate Men's Physical Education Department.
A native of Sag Harbor, N.Y., Moench earned high praise for his work in the testing and measurement program at Cortland as well as for his service to the New York State Association for Health, Physical Education and Recreation. During World War II, he served as deputy director of the Office of Physical Fitness with the New York State Governor's War Council in Albany.
Described by all as very professional, Moench's input and direction played a major part in the development of the physical education major on campus. He also played a key role in the design of the Moffett Center which was the principal facility for the College's health, physical education and recreation programs from 1954 to the opening of the Park Center in 1972. Moench had been dean of the College for two years when, in 1954, he left Cortland to become president of SUNY Geneseo. He stayed in that position until he retired in 1963. In 1967 he was appointed to the Cortland College Foundation. Moench received the Cortland College Alumni Association's Distinguished Achievement Award in 1968.
He died in July 1991 at the age of 94.
