20 to be honored by Alumni Association
The UB Alumni Association will honor a prominent local philanthropist and an internationally recognized journalist at the annual UB Alumni Association Achievement Awards ceremony, to be held at 6:30 p.m. April 9 in Lippes Concert Hall in Slee Hall, North Campus.
Attorney Gordon R. Gross, JD ’55, will receive the Samuel P. Capen Award, the UB Alumni Association’s highest honor, and CNN host Wolf Blitzer, BA ’70, will receive a Distinguished Alumni Award. They are among the 11 individuals who will be honored, along with a UB alumni group, students and volunteers.
President John B. Simpson and UB Alumni Association President Larry Zielinski, MBA ’77, BA ’75, will present the awards. A post-award reception will feature premium food stations, an open bar and entertainment in the Center for the Arts atrium.
Tickets are $75 per person and may be purchased online or by calling the UB Office of Alumni Relations at 1-800-284-5382.
Gross, senior partner since 1959 in the law firm Gross, Shuman, Brizdle & Gilfillan P.C., has a long history of community activism and commitment to UB.
A member of the SUNY Board of Trustees from 2001-08, Gross’s significant gifts to UB include a $1 million donation to establish the first endowed professorship in the Institute for Jewish Thought and Heritage.
“The university is the No. 1 economic engine in Western New York. Not only is it an important employer, but it spawns new businesses and attracts people to the region,” Gross said. “I’ve seen for quite some time that the university is the future of this community, and the most important thing we can do for the growth of the community is to help grow the university. It’s just that simple.”
The UB Law School, School of Dental Medicine, School of Architecture and Planning, and the Division of Athletics are among the units that have benefitted from Gross’ generosity. The Dr. Alan Gross Dental Student Fund was created to honor his late brother, whom the family lost to stomach cancer in 1998. The loss of his brother, who had three UB degrees, prompted Gross’s involvement with Roswell Park Cancer Institute, where he serves as a committee member for development and institute affairs, and each year participates in the Ride for Roswell, becoming its top fundraiser in 2009.
Blitzer will receive a Distinguished Alumni Award, given in recognition of exceptional career accomplishments, community or university service, or research and scholarly activity. The host of “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer,” he received a SUNY honorary doctorate in humane letters in 1999, and in 2003 he endowed the UB David Blitzer Lecture Series in Jewish Studies in honor of his late father, David, a Jewish Polish refugee.
Additional 2010 Distinguished Alumni Award recipients are immunologist Richard J. Ablin, PhD ’67, whose discovery of a protein that often is elevated in the presence of prostate cancer led to the creation of the PSA test; internationally acclaimed soprano Laura L. Aikin, BFA ’86; and Margaret G. McGlynn, MBA ’83, BS ’82, former president of Merck & Company’s global vaccine and infectious disease division and its U.S. hospital and specialty division.
The Clifford C. Furnas Award, presented to engineering, natural sciences or mathematics alumni who have distinguished themselves in a field of science, is to be given to Norman R. McCombs, BA ’68, founder of Xorbox Corp., which evolved into AirSep Corp. AirSep is world renowned as a manufacturer of pressure swing adsorption (PSA) oxygen systems for myriad medical and industrial applications.
Gary A. Baker, PhD ’02, will receive the George W. Thorn Award, given to alumni under 40 in recognition of outstanding national or international contributions to their career field or academic area. Baker, a scientist with the Nanomaterials Chemistry Group of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, is one of 12 researchers to be awarded the 2009 Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers. He is a leader in the synthesis and application of environmentally benign solvents, including supercritical fluids and ionic liquids, a new type of solvent composed entirely of ions.
Reserved for non-alumni who have made notable and meritorious contributions to UB, the Walter P. Cooke Award will be presented to Janet H. Sung and John J. Sung, founders of Windsong Radiology Group, now the second-largest diagnostic-imaging center in the United States. The Sungs established the John J. and Janet H. Scholarship Endowed Fund in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences with a $1 million gift.
The Dr. Richard T. Sarkin Award for Excellence in Teaching will be presented to William G. Wild Jr., MS ’87, MA ’85, BS ’83, director of special student programs in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
Dennis W. Elsenbeck, ME ’96, will be given the Community Leadership Medal for his outstanding volunteer accomplishments in making the community a better place to live and work. Regional executive of energy solutions services in National Grid’s western division, Eisenbeck is chair of UB Engineering’s Dean’s Advisory Council.
The Dr. Philip B. Wels Award will be given to the UB Dental Alumni Association for its contributions to the university, academia, the community and the profession. Frank C. Barnashuk, PMCert ’81, DDS ’80, will accept the Wels Award on the association’s behalf.
Four students will receive the J. Scott Fleming Scholarship, the only student-to-student award at UB. They are Olivia Cox, a junior nursing major and Acker Scholar; Marc Huberfeld, a senior majoring in business administration with concentrations in MIS and operations and supply chain management; Tae Hyun Moon, a senior majoring in business administration with a concentration in marketing; and Kathryn Przybyla, a junior communication major with a minor in geography of international business and world trade.
In appreciation of outstanding volunteer contributions to the university, Volunteer Recognition Awards will be presented to Marc A. Adler, MA ’83, MBA ’82, BA ’79, adjunct professor in marketing and advertising who has volunteered in numerous capacities with the UB Alumni Association; Catharine L. Dohn, MBA ’79, BS ’76, a former assistant dean for Millard Fillmore College who has compiled more than 2,250 hours of volunteer service to UB through the Emeritus Center’s REV-UP program; Michael J. Dray, BS ’04, a process engineer for start-up company ZeroPoint Clean Tech Inc. who volunteers for UB Engineering; James C. McNally, EdM ’68, BS ’66, a retired NFL coach who volunteers with UB Athletics; and Frances M. Sansone, MS ’91, a retired UB medical school faculty member who has given more than 1,500 hours of volunteer service to UB through REV-UP.
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