Gray Thanks Alumni for $15.5 M

TRULY SPLENDID

Gray Thanks Alumni for $15.5M 

Reunion class gifts of $15,541,497 were announced Friday, June 8, at 
MIT's annual Technology Day alumni luncheon.

The luncheon in the Howard Johnson Athletic Center was part of a day-
long program for some 1,800 alumni spouses and guests highlighted by a 
morning debate on global warming.

The gift chairmen for the three major reunion classes--H. Tyler Marcy 
for the 50th reunion Class of 1940, Henry C. Sharp Jr. for the 40th 
reunion Class of 1950 and William R. Brody for the 25th reunion Class of 
1965--presented their class gifts to MIT President Paul E. Gray during 
the luncheon program.

The Class of 1940 announced a gift of $5,916,564 and a bequest 
commitment of $1,308,000; the Class of 1950 a gift of $4,615,239; and 
the Class of 1965 a gift of $2,244,213.

The gifts of these reunion classes comprise all gifts made to MIT by 
members of the classes during the five-year period preceding the reunion 
and all pledges to be paid in the five years following the reunion.

Other reunion gifts announced at the luncheon included: $1,770,846 from 
the Class of 1925; $831,593 from the Class of 1930; $87,221 from the 
Class of 1975; $50,675 from the Class of 1980; and $25,146 from the 
Class of 1985.

In addition, this year's graduating class contributed $8,000, with 
additional pledges of $7,000, for a clock tower to be placed in a 
prominent location on the campus.

It also was announced that the Alumni Fund is expected to reach some $16 
million in cash gifts from more than 29,000 alumni by the end of the 
fiscal year on June 30. 

President Gray, acknowledging the "truly splendid" gifts, thanked the 
alumni and alumnae for "your leadership, your abiding interest and your 
generosity."

In his remarks, he noted that excellence has been "the hallmark" of MIT. 
"But excellence is a fragile quality," he continued, "and maintaining 
excellence is no easy task--particularly at a time of dwindling 
resources for research, diminished federal aid to needy students and 
growing public concern and skepticism about the costs, benefits and 
values of private higher education."

Some of the issues and considerations presenting the greatest challenges 
in the years ahead, he said, will be:

Attracting and keeping the best faculty, attracting the very best 
students, attracting and managing financial resources necessary to 
ensure the continued vitality of MIT, coming to grips with MIT as an 
international institution, making a pluralistic community work well, and 
both keeping a focus on and devising the best possible undergraduate 
educational program.

Dr. Gray, who is preparing to leave the presidency after 10 years to 
become chairman of the MIT Corporation, said he had been rewarded by 
"being able to serve this university in the best way I can--and to give 
back, in small measure, some of what I have received in the nearly four 
decades I have been privileged to be part of MIT."

In a personal moment, he added, "In all of this, I have had a primary, 
unflagging partner--someone who has been an ambassador of the Institute 
throughout the world, a community builder here at home, and a model of 
what caring, committed service is all about. I refer, of course, to 
Priscilla Gray."

He then called his wife to the podium, where they received, hand in 
hand, the standing applause of the alumni.

The luncheon program was conducted by Atty. Harris Weinstein, Class of 
1956, concluding his term as president of the nearly 90,000-member MIT 
Alumni Association.

He announced that alumni representing 73 classes were attending the 
reunion programs and that the most senior among them at the luncheon was 
Robert A. Warren of Weston, a member of the Class of 1915 observing the 
75th anniversary of his graduation. He also gave special recognition to 
four members of the Class of 1920 observing their 70th reunion--Harold 
Bugbee, Malcom S. Burroughs, Charles D. Carleton and Frank Maconi. He 
noted that Mr. Bugbee is the Alumni Association's most senior past 
president, having served in that post 43 years ago.

Both President Gray and Mr. Weinstein paid special tribute to the late 
Barton L. Weller of the 50th reunion class. He was to have played a 
prominent role in reunion activities but died last month. His wife 
attended the luncheon. 

In keeping with the custom of recognizing people who, though not alumni, 
have exhibited "great dedication, commitment and loyalty to MIT and its 
alumni," Mr. Weinstein announced that the Alumni Association was 
bestowing  honorary membership on four persons: Dr. George Thorn, Mrs. 
Margaret McDermott, MIT economics Professor and Nobel laureate Robert M. 
Solow and Alumni Association staff member Robert W. Blake.

He praised Dr. Thorn as a "Corporation member, Executive Committee 
member, Visiting Committee member and "most extraordinary fundraiser for 
the Institute."

Mrs. McDermott, he said, had been an "elegant example of loyalty to MIT" 
who "has had close ties to MIT for over 30 years. Her generosity to the 
Institute through support of her 'McDermott Scholars' has enabled 
hundreds of young students to attend MIT." 

Professor Solow, "a busy and deeply committed faculty member with 
extraordinary demands on his time," nonetheless has "consistently been 
available to speak to alumni throughout the United States," Mr. 
Weinstein said, adding: "Many, many alumni have benefited from his 
participation in Alumni Association events."

Mr. Blake, senior regional director for the Alumni Association, "has won 
the trust and support of volunteers from across the United States," Mr. 
Weinstein said. "Careful and meticulous, Bob has quietly managed to 
'make things work' for Alumni Association activities from coast to coast 
and in between."

At the conclusion of the program,  Mr. Weinstein turned over the 
symbolic gavel of office as alumni president to the incoming 1990-91 
president, Christian J. Matthew. Mr. Matthew, who received the SB in 
chemical engineering from MIT in 1943, was with Arthur D. Little, Inc., 
for 20 years both as a consultant and as manager of its Western 
division. He later was president of Research Specialties Company and 
also Lester Gorsline Associates, then a subsidiary of ADL. He was with 
St. Mary's Hospital and Medical Center of San Francisco as associate 
administrator and director planning and later as assistant 
administrator. He was a founder of St. Mary's Foundation and served as 
executive vice president from 1984 until his retirement in 1986.

At MIT, he is completing a five-year term as a Corporation member and 
will remain on the Corporation as an ex-officio member while Alumni 
Association president. He is a member of the Corporation Development 
Committee and is or has been a member of several visiting committees. He 
also has been a member of the board of directors of both the Alumni 
Association and the Alumni Fund, vice president of the Alumni 
Association, and chairman of the Alumni Fund. He has been a member of 
the MIT Club of Northern California since 1954 and served as its 
president in 1958-60. He received the MIT Bronze Beaver Award in 1977.	

The Technology Day committee included: William C. Maini, chairman; 
Thomas H. Jordan and  Ronald G. Prinn, ex-officio members; David R. 
Wadleigh, George Beesley, Robert C. Seamans, Jr., George F. Clifford, 
Arthur C. Parthe, Jr., Eugene F. Mallove, Vincent W. James, Stephen C. 
Messner and Bernard Loyd.