Dozens of young people, lost in schoolwork or quiet conversation, barely looked up from their tables a few weeks ago as a knot of men and women wandered past, faces to the sunlight in the Erie Community College atrium.

If the students did react, the guy they recognized was Dan Hocoy, ECC's president. Few noticed a white-haired woman who moved casually amid the crowd hurrying to class, pausing to admire views of ECC's courtyard and its great open space.

In no small way, those students were there because of her. Even many of their teachers were not yet born when Joan Bozer helped lead an uphill campaign to save the building, an effort seen as a pivot in the way greater Buffalo envisions both its downtown, and its future.

Bozer, at 90, downplays her role. She speaks with admiration of a legion of allies, especially the late Minnie Gillette, her friend and fellow strategist, who at the time had just become the first African-American woman elected to the Erie County Legislature.

"Please," said Bozer, who served in the Legislature until 1995 and whose passion extends to many civic causes. "Don't make it sound like it was just me."