Seymour Schwartz says that his decision to earn a bachelor's degree in history - nearly 55 years after he first attempted the feat - was easily made. The 82-year-old Levittown resident had to keep up with his wife, Margaret, who has a bachelor's degree in computer science, a master of public administration degree and a law degree.

"My wife really inspired me," he says, admitting that "I got a little bit jealous because she has three degrees and I had none. I said, "This isn't fair. If she can get three degrees, I can certainly get one."

Margaret Schwartz, who had earned her MPA degree from the C.W. Post of Long Island University, recommended the Brookville campus. That made his second decision - where to enroll - another easy choice. Finally - and in short order - he decided to study history. He had witnessed plenty of historic events throughout his life, after all.

"I think anybody who doesn't study history is very foolish because we live in history," he says. "I've seen in my lifetime very historic events and very historic people pass through the stage of life. If people don't study history, that's why we make the same mistakes over again."

Schwartz served in the United States Navy during World War II, first in the North Atlantic and later in the Pacific. He earned five battle stars for his work aboard an escort carrier and a destroyer from 1943 to 1946. When he returned home, Schwartz studied music at The Juilliard School in New York City and accounting at New York University, but never earned a degree. When he realized that he was "never going to get to the Metropolitan Opera" and "couldn't add up a column of numbers correctly," he decided to work in sales for the food industry. For the last 15 years, he has worked as a sales manager for William E. Martin and Sons, a spice importer and processor in Jamaica, Queens.

On April 13, 2005, Schwartz was inducted into Phi Alpha Theta, the national honor society for history majors. His experience at C.W. Post has been wonderful, he says. "Meeting all the young people and talking to the professors has been very stimulating," says Schwartz. "I have enjoyed it immensely and it has kept me young."

With his new degree in hand, Schwartz plans to take his wife on a cruise to Hawaii in February 2006. In the meantime, he will continue working in his current job and perhaps take a few continuing education courses. "I have no intention of retiring to stay home and watch the grass grow," he says. "Not in my life. I'm going to be active until the day I die."

Schwartz was one of more than 2,200 students who donned their caps and gowns on Mother's Day, Sunday, May 8, for the 47th annaul commencement exercises of the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University.