HAA Honored

The Harvard Alumni Association (HAA) surprised President Neil L. Rudenstine by awarding him a Harvard Medal for outstanding contributions to the University. Three other winners were also cited by HAA president Scott A. Abell '72 at the organization's annual meeting on June 7.

For Samuel C. Butler '51, LL.B. '54--As President of the Board of Overseers, Chairman of the Harvard College Fund, and faithful friend of the Harvard Law School, you have been a wise counselor and loyal leader for fifty years, working tirelessly to help Harvard meet its highest ideals.

For Victor Kwok-King Fung, Ph.D '71--A preeminent international leader for Harvard, you have made thoughtful and visionary contributions to this University, helping to establish Harvard's presence in Asia, encouraging its study of the region, and ensuring Harvard's growth as a worldwide university.

For Myra A. Mayman--By teaching us to expect the unexpected, you have taught us to put Arts First; by sowing seeds of creativity for more than a quarter-century at Harvard, you have cultivated a community where the creative arts are free to flourish and to flower.

For Neil L. Rudenstine, Ph.D. '64--Serving with skillful gentility and scholarly erudition, you have brought together the many parts of this University, inspiring our common commitments and leaving Harvard a more humane, cohesive, and prosperous place.

 

Election Results

The members of the Board of Overseers have elected Richard E. Oldenburg '54 as their new president (see page 71). He succeeds Sharon Elliott Gagnon, Ph.D. '72.

This year, 33,424 alumni, representing 16.5 percent of eligible voters, cast ballots in the annual selection of Overseers and elected directors of the HAA. The results were announced at the HAA's annual meeting on June 7.

Elected to the Board of Overseers for six-year terms were:

Bruce M. Alberts '60, Ph.D. '66. President, National Academy of Sciences. Washington, D.C.

Paul Buttenwieser '60, M.D. '64. Psychiatrist; novelist. Cambridge.

Susan Graham Harrison '64; M.S. '66, Ph.D. '71 Stanford University. Pehong Chen Distinguished Professor of electrical engineering and computer science, University of California-Berkeley. Berkeley, Calif.

Harold Hongju Koh '75, J.D. '80. Latrobe Smith professor of international law, Yale University. New Haven, Conn.

Deborah C. Wright '79, J.D.-M.B.A. '84. President and CEO, Carver Bancorp Inc. New York City.

The newest HAA Directors, elected for three-year terms, were:

Judith A. Dollenmayer '63; M.S.S. '75 Syracuse University. Director, Dollenmayer Communications. Washington, D.C.

Paul J. Finnegan '75, M.B.A. '82. Managing director, Madison Dearborn Partners Inc. Chicago.

Thomas H. Mattox '82; M.B.A. '89 Stanford University. Vice president and chief of staff for operations, finance, and resources division, Goldman Sachs & Co. New York City.

Cheryl L. McAfee-Mitchell, M.A.U.D. '81; B.Arch. '79 Kansas State University. President and principal, Charles F. McAfee Architects, Planners and Program Managers. Atlanta.

Lisa Quiroz '83, M.B.A. '90. Publisher, People en Español. New York City.

Gloria Wu '75; M.D. '81 Columbia University. Ophthalmologist and vitreo-retinal surgeon. Brookline, Mass.

Ramón and Rosario Chavez (at rear) always stressed the importance of education. "When my older brother got into Harvard, my mother locked in on it," reports Richard Chavez '87. "[My parents] had never been to New England, but she knew the Harvard myth and she thought, 'If it's good enough for some people, it's good enough for my children'" (from left, Andrea '93, Martin '85, Elena '01, Thomas '90, Richard). On June 5, Dean Harry R. Lewis hosted a reception for the family. Elena has focused on public policy and community service; all her siblings work in the high-tech world.

Photograph by Jim Harrison

The Act of Giving

The Class of 1941, led by George H. Hanford, M.B.A. '43, went down in Harvard history for the 99.2 percent participation rate in their reunion gift, which totalled $3.3 million. They were lauded by the Corporation's Senior Fellow, Robert G. Stone Jr., in his annual report on University gifts and resources on the afternoon of Commencement day. Lauded, too, were the unprecedented 1,014 donors--a record--from the class of 1981, who gave $8 million. Also setting records: the class of 1966, whose gift was nearly $19 million; the class of 1961, with $16 million; the class of 1946, with $10.8 million; and the class of 1931, which collected $3.9 million. The class of 1976, which Stone called the "first truly Harvard-Radcliffe class," contributed $24.5 million, while the members of the class of 1951 weighed in with $18.7 million, including 11 individual gifts of $1 million or more. The class of 2001, with a nearly 60 percent participation rate, gave more than $30,000.

Leaders

John Heagan Eames

Photograph by Jim Harrison

For the third year in a row John Heagan Eames '22, age 100, of Wiscasset, Me.--"still alive and in pretty good shape"--led the alumni procession. At 98, Marion Coppelman Epstein '24, of Boston, was the oldest alumna present.

According to the University's records at press time, the 10 oldest alumni, apart from Eames, include James George Jameson, '22, 101, of Orlando, Fla.; Charles Henry Warner '21, 101, of Berkeley, Cal.; Mildred Ellis Reynolds '21, 101, of Norwalk, Conn.; Evelyn Gerstein Garfield '22, 101, of New York City; Catriona Cole White '21, 101, of Farmington, Conn.; Lillian E. Barclay '23, 101, of Boston; Helen Parker Jochum '22, 100, of Bloomfield, Conn.; Ruth Huntley Gardner '22, 100, of Arlington, Va.; Sheridan Ashton Logan '23, 100, of Saint Joseph, Mo.; and Margaret James MacDonald '23, 100, of Stanley, Perthshire, Scotland.