Alumnus and His Wife Fund High Peaks Mural on Angell College Center

Originally from Staten Island, N.Y., Larry Unrein’s time at SUNY Plattsburgh instilled in him, among other things, an appreciation for the scenic landscapes of the region.

“I’ve always thought positively of the natural beauty and the Adirondacks,” said the alumnus, who earned his bachelor’s in accounting and psychology from the university in 1979 and was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from SUNY in May 2026.

Though SUNY Plattsburgh sits just outside the border of the nearly 6-million-acre Adirondack Park, which is home to numerous bodies of water and more than 100 mountains, including the 46 High Peaks, Larry and his wife, Eileen, recently brought one of the park’s breathtaking summit views to the center of campus for all to enjoy, no mountain climbing required.

The large-scale mural, which the couple have generously funded, is titled “Cardinal Country” and adorns an upper corner of the front exterior of the Angell College Center, overlooking Amitié Plaza. As with “North Country Dream,” the mural added to the exterior of Hudson Hall in spring 2025, SUNY Plattsburgh partnered with Outside Art and artist Brendon Palmer-Angell, a Plattsburgh native and the grandson of the late Dr. George Angell, who served as president of the university from 1954 to 1974.

The latest outdoor painting depicts four of the Adirondack’s High Peaks — Algonquin Peak, Wright Peak, Mount Colden and Mount Marcy — as seen from Mount Jo, a smaller peak in the vicinity.

“Algonquin is one of my favorite hikes in the Adirondacks, and this is an incredible view,” Palmer-Angell said. “My thought was to bring the heart of the Adirondacks to the heart of campus.”

In keeping with the Unrein’s vision for the project, the piece also features a lake and two small cardinals.

“In some of the initial iterations, the cardinals were much larger, and there wasn't any water, and when you think about the Adirondacks, it's all these different lakes, so we decided on water,” Larry explained. “And we also wanted the Plattsburgh Cardinal connection to be much more subtle, and I think we ended up in a terrific place.”

Like his first campus mural, Palmer-Angell created “Cardinal Country” using spray paint and drawing inspiration from the style of the late American artist Rockwell Kent, who lived in the Adirondacks for more than four decades.

“I was really excited to get to work on another mural here,” Palmer-Angell said. “I love the campus. I love the university. I'm just really excited to be a part of one of the most important community institutions in Plattsburgh. And, of course, the Angell College Center and the plaza are really important places for me and my family.”

Mounted just below the mural is silver lettering denoting the building’s full name, “George W. Angell College Center,” in honor of Palmer-Angell’s grandfather, who passed away when the artist was just six months old.

“It is quite surreal to be painting on a building with his name on it. In a way, this is the closest I've ever felt to him,” Palmer-Angell said. “I've been thinking a lot about him and his legacy, the way he transformed the university, and the work he did for the city and the community. It's been surprisingly emotional in a lot of ways, especially while I was painting on his birthday, June 19. I've found myself musing about the impact he would've had on my life if he had survived lung cancer. And of course, it's just an honor to be painting here, to be entrusted with creating for this community space.”

For the Unreins, who have long supported SUNY Plattsburgh through Larry’s service on the Plattsburgh College Foundation Board of Directors and Investment Committee and annual gifts to the Unrein Family Nursing Scholarship, Unrein Family Unrestricted Scholarship, Plattsburgh Fund and Emergency Grant Program, the mural has allowed them to enrich the university in a different way — through beautification.

“I just thought it was a great idea,” Larry said. “It’s something that we could support that’s a little different and something that would hopefully have a nice positive impact on the campus.”