A campus institution stays strong on 39th St.

Correction appended

It's a Tuesday morning, and a group of students rush into Campus Copy Center to get a homework assignment bound. An employee welcomes them as they come in, then shows the students their binding options.

Stan Shapiro would be proud.

Shapiro, who opened Campus Copy Center in 1959, died earlier this month at age 73, but his employees say the work ethic that helped Shapiro build his business from nothing will live on.

Campus Copy started as a photography shop at 37th and Walnut streets run by Shapiro, his wife and son. The store grew, and another location opened at 39th and Walnut.

Today, it is the oldest business on Penn's campus. Though originally a family enterprise in every sense of the word - Shapiro and his family were the only employees - it now has a work-force of 18.

Shapiro's son Ron, who's now in charge of the store, said that his father saw a lot of change over the years, as other businesses have come and gone around it.

Most recently, the rest of the stores on the 3900 block of Walnut Street closed their doors and moved away as Penn prepares to begin a building project that will eventually transform the area into University-owned apartments and new retail venues.

But Campus Copy will stay put.

Shapiro owned the land on which the store at 3907 Walnut St. stands - Penn owns the rest of the retail space on the block. The building was originally a hotel, and Shapiro's family lived on the first floor.

And because the family, not Penn, owns the land, Campus Copy did not have to move for the University project. Shapiro had said he was excited about the street's renovations.

"The only thing he was depressed about when he passed away was that he wasn't going to be able to see everything that was going to be going on the block," Ron Shapiro said.

Ron took over for his father 10 years ago. However, Stan continued to check in on his son from time to time.

"Everything I've learned, I learned from him," Ron said.

Along the way, Shapiro made a lot of friends - his employees, professors and various people around the Penn community. When Shapiro was diagnosed with leukemia, he was admitted to the leukemia wing of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania immediately because he had friends who worked at HUP, Ron said.

Everyone who knew him had only good things to say about him, he added.

But Shapiro's friends were not limited to the Penn community.

"He was very concerned about serving not only Penn, but the West Philadelphia community as a whole," said Penn alumnus and Campus Copy general manager Mike Drake.

Drake has worked there for 22 years, and over half of the store's staff have been employees for at least a decade.

"He was more of a father figure than a boss," said Geraldo Silva, who has worked at Campus Copy Center for six years. "He was the best boss you could ask for."

Shapiro, an avid fisherman, would even take employees on fishing trips in the summer.

"He was very well liked," Ron said. "The reason for the success of the business was because he was well liked."

Correction: This story incorrectly quotes Ron Shapiro as saying, "He was very concerned about serving not only Penn, but the West Philadelphia community as a whole," about his father. In fact, Campus Copy general manager Mike Drake made the comment.

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