Five alumni—Charles J. “Charlie” Egan Jr. ’54, Michael E.A. Gellert ’53, Thomas W. Lentz Jr., Ph.D. ’85, Sandra Ohrn Moose, Ph.D. ’68, and Robert D. Reischauer ’63—received the 2015 Harvard Medal for “extraordinary service to the University” on May 28, during the Harvard Alumni Association’s (HAA) annual meeting on the afternoon of Commencement day. President Drew Faust read the citations, printed in italics below.
The 2012 recipient of the HAA’s David T.W. McCord ’21 Lifetime Achievement Award, Charles J. Egan Jr. is a longtime class leader, having served as co-chair of the Harvard College Fund Executive Committee from 2001 to 2003 and as a leader of his class’s record-breaking reunion gift activities for decades. A former HAA president, he has also worked with students and alumni as president of Harvard Club of Kansas City; there and earlier (through the Harvard Club of Long Island), his dedicated work with the College admissions office earned him the Hiram S. Hunn Memorial Schools and Scholarships Award in 2004. A longtime supporter of the Crimson swimming and diving team (on which he earned three major Hs and served as captain), Egan and his son Peter Egan ’86 (also a former team captain) endowed the men’s swimming and diving coach position in 2013. Currently, the senior Egan is a co-trustee of the Stanley H. Durwood Foundation and a former vice president of and general counsel for Hallmark Cards Inc.
Whether setting records in the pool as a student athlete or in class reunion giving as an alumnus, you are a Crimson captain through and through, leaving your hallmark on the Universityas president of the Harvard Alumni Association and the Harvard Club of Kansas City, co-chair of the Harvard College Fund, and a passionate supporter of athletics, financial aid, and House Renewal.
A current member of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) Campaign Steering Committee, the FAS New York Major Gifts Committee, and the Divinity School Leadership Council, Michael E.A. Gellert has long served the University. His previous volunteer activities include the Harvard College Fund Council, the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Leadership Council, and the Radcliffe Institute’s Tenth Anniversary Steering Committee; he was also a member of the Harvard Club of New York City’s board of managers during the club’s expansion. Gellert is a co-founder, investor, and general partner of Windcrest Partners, a private investment firm, and the father of Catherine “Kate” Gellert ’93, who served as HAA president in 2013-14.
Devoted alumnus, committed volunteer, and proud Harvard parent, you have embodied the spirit of One Harvard through your dedicated and continuing service across the University, from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences to the Radcliffe Institute to the Harvard Library.
As Cabot director of the Harvard Art Museums, Thomas W. Lentz Jr. was instrumentalin leading the renovation and expansion that brought three museums—the Fogg, Busch-Reisinger, and Sackler—together with new teaching and conservation facilities. The wholly reconfigured museum complex reopened in November of 2014 and Lentz stepped down from his post at the end of this academic year. An expert in Islamic art who earned his doctorate at Harvard, he worked at the RISD Museum and the Los Angeles County Museums of Art, and then served as director of the Smithsonian Institution’s international art museums, before returning to Cambridge in 2003.
With characteristic aplomb and vision, you led the transformation of the Harvard Art Museums, bringing three renowned institutions under one glorious glass roof, reimagining the place of art in the life of the University, and creating a teaching machine that will benefit faculty, students, and the public for generations to come.
A member of theGraduate School Alumni Association Council for more than two decades, Sandra Ohrn Moose is active in preserving the University’s academic excellence and in fundraising efforts. She established the Sandra Ohrn Family Graduate Student Dissertation Fellowship Fund in 2007 to help ease the burdens on doctoral students finishing their degrees. Ohrn spent her career at the Boston Consulting Group (where she was the first woman hired as a business-strategy consultant), rising to become a senior managing partner and director; she is now a senior advisor. She has also held significant advisory roles at Boston cultural institutions and is currently president of the board of trustees of the Museum of Fine Arts.
Trailblazer for women in business, role model for civic engagement, and catalyst for alumni involvement with decades of service to the University and to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, you have enhanced the quality of student life and empowered Harvard scholars to reach new heights of academic excellence.
Robert D. Reischauer joined theHarvard Corporation in2002, after a six-year term on the Board of Overseers, and was instrumental in forming and instituting the governance reforms, such as expanding the Corporation’s capacity and shifting its focus to longer-term policy and strategic development, that were adopted in late 2010. He concluded his service last year and is now a distinguished institute fellow and president emeritus of the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C. Reischauer also served as director of the Congressional Budget Office from 1989 to 1995 and is a former senior fellow at the Brookings Institute.
A stalwart champion of good governance from Capitol Hill to Harvard Yard, you provided sage and savvy leadership on Harvard’s governing boards for nearly two decades, deftly guiding the Corporation as senior fellow through historic reforms that have broadened its angle of vision and sharpened its eye on the future.
