Mohawk Valley Community College math professor Theodore “Ted” Moore’s life ended on Dec. 3, 1996, when he was hit by a drunk driver while running near his Deerfield Home.
He was 44 years old with a wife and two children.
But Moore’s legacy has lived on through his family, his students and the Theodore “Ted” Moore Run/Walk, hosted by MVCC, which has raised money for a memorial scholarship for 27 years.
But the 27th annual run, which took place last April, was the last, MVCC has announced. The decision was made jointly by the run/walk committee, Moore’s family and the MVCC community, according to a release from the college.
“This is a bittersweet moment for all of us,” said Deanna Ferro-Aurience, executive director of institutional advancement and the MVCC Foundation, in a statement. “We have loved bringing the community together each year to celebrate Ted’s legacy. We are incredibly grateful to his family, the event committee, and everyone who has participated in, supported, and shared this journey.
“Ted’s impact lives on — not just in the scholarship, but in the countless lives he touched.”
One of those lives is Musco Millner III, a former student of Moore’s who is now an assistant professor of criminal justice at Utica University. As an undergraduate student at MVCC and then at SUNY Albany, though, Millner was a math major.
And Moore’s influence extended beyond the classroom, Millner said.
“Professor Moore was one of those professors that was always around,“ he said.  “On numerous occasions, I would encounter and converse with Professor Moore outside the classroom, whether it be in another building or walking from building to building; however, it should be noted that these encounters were safe platforms because he had such a welcoming spirit about him. 
“He would creatively use these encounters as teaching and mentoring moments.”
Millner went on to earn a master’s degree in math education at SUNY Empire State college and spent time as an adjunct math professor at MVCC, but after Moore had died.
“When Professor (Donald) Willner afforded me the opportunity to teach mathematics as an adjunct for MVCC,” Millner recalled,  “I said to myself, ‘I hope and pray that when Professor Moore looks down from on high, that he is proud of what he is witnessing in a classroom where his spirit is embraced.” 
He tried to teach, he said, in the style of instruction and delivery he had learned from both Moore and Willner, he said.
But Millner ended up following a less numerical path.
He joined the New York State Police and served for 27 years, ending with the rank of captain before retiring and taking up his post at Utica University. In his time on patrol and working in the forensic identification unit, Millner saw the consequences of drunk or impaired driving many times, he said, witnessing “the worst of the worst, both in terms of the scene and in terms of the impact on the victims’ families and the community.”
“Professor Moore,” he added, “was and has been on my mind; that won’t change regardless of being “retired.”
While Moore teaches about criminal justice, he’s also enrolled in the Education Theory and Practice Program at SUNY Albany, studying curriculum and instruction with a specialization in math education. He wants his research and dissertation to focus on teaching and engagement in STEM disciplines, particularly math, he said.
“Mathematics has always been a love of mine,” Millner said. “Professor Moore knew that and fed that as he poured encouragement into the atmosphere and into my spirit, not only in the mathematics classrooms I was blessed to be in with him but also the encounters that occurred outside of the classroom.”
Whatever he’s teaching, Moore said he hopes his students will appreciate him as much as he appreciated Moore.
“That’s the goal; that’s the plan,” he said. “That’s the mission and it is ‘Moore’ important than the paycheck.”
The Ted Moore Run/Walk began in 1997 and there is now more than $200,000 in the scholarship’s account, enough to ensure, officials said, that the scholarship can continue to support generations of students.
But the run wasn’t just about scholarships. Its theme has been “None for the Road” and over the years, funds raised have also supported organizations that work in drug and alcohol prevention and treatment.
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After Moore’s death, MVCC and county agencies also stepped up their efforts to spread awareness of the dangers of drunk driving. In a 2010 O-D article, Oneida County STOP-DWI Administrator Michael Colangelo said that there were no motor vehicle deaths related to alcohol in the county in 2009.
And the number of fatalities were in the single digits between 2000 and 2008, according to the 2009 Oneida County Department of Traffic Safety annual report.
That report showed shows 27 alcohol-related traffic deaths in the county in 1981, the year Moore started teaching at MVCC and the year the statewide STOP-DWI program began. At that time, alcohol was involved in more than 10% of all local traffic accidents.
Across the state, drunk driving has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic and MVCC has pledged to continue raising awareness on the dangers of drinking and driving.
And those who loved Moore will keep demonstrating what he taught them. And they will keep his memory alive.
“Loss, if you truly care for someone,” Millner said, “is something that you never get over. You somehow learn to navigate through moment by moment, minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day.”

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