United Negro College Fund 60th Anniversary Celebration

Mar. 4, 2004

Sheraton, NY, NY

“A mind is a terrible thing to waste.” That is the slogan of probably one of the most benefactorial organization ever to be established, helping thousands upon thousands of young, bright, intellectual minds with a vision for science, research, the arts,

the legal profession, and so on. The only problem: many of these minds are in folks who, due to adverse circumstances beyond their control, including financial inability to afford college, are not given the opportunity to develop their minds. This is where, for the past 60 years, the United Negro College Fund has been helping young folks achieve their visions and dreams, while at the same time giving them their fair representation within a wide array of professions, including science and research.

This celebration was particularly wonderful because it marked the UNCF’s sixth decade of helping those who, without their assistance . . .who knows what would have become of them. The evening started off with the singing of “The Star Spangled Banner” and “Lift Every Voice and Sing”, both of which were beautifully song by the Florida Memorial College Ambassador Chorale. After these two beautiful singing performances, the audience was given the invocation by Rev. Dr. Charles A. Curtis, Pastor of Mount Olivet Baptist Church, New York, N.Y. Topping off the music was a beautiful selection which was performed by the Florida Memorial College Ambassador Memorial Chorale and Steel Band.

We then feasted on a delicious steak dinner, with tender green beans and delicious winter squash, after enjoying a delicious crabmeat salad appetizer. Then, it was on with the show!

Each of the three co-chairs—leaders of companies that have devoted their services to the UNCF, assisting them in their fundraising ventures—was introduced by a professionally presented video, which was shown on four wide screens throughout the room, and which outlined the company, its industry and the areas in which that company has assisted the UNCF in climbing higher toward reaching its goals.

The first co-chair was Ann M. Fudge, Chairman and CEO of Young and Rubicam, Inc., who’s company, specializing in the field of advertising, had greatly assisted with many of the UNCF’s advertising ventures. Among Ms. Fudge’s comments are “For over 60 years, UNCF has transformed lives, and I do mean transformed lives. We all know that education opens minds, and maybe even more importantly, education opens doors. UNCF has opened thousands and thousands of doors, and made us a better nation because of it. This evening is also very special, because we’re here to celebrate the terrific works of Bill Gray, a very special man. I want to promise you tonight, and promise Bill, that we’re going to continue at Young and Rubicam to build on this tradition, and we intend to do you proud. Thank you for your incredible vision and for your leadership, and thank you for having me here tonight.”

The second co-chair was Michael H. Jordon. Chairman and CEO of EDS Corporation, who gave the audience a warm welcome, saying “I want to welcome all of you tonight as a co-chairman of this dinner. It’s our sixtieth year of the fund. We have a great line-up of honorees, including my good friend, Michael Dell. This is Bill Gray’s last dinner as President—[I guess it’s my last dinner as Chairman]—we have a great show for you tonight, and I really want to thank all of the people, including the ones that organized this event. We’re going to have a nice time, and you’re going to see a lot of good stuff, so thanks very much.”

After Mr. Jordan had spoken, there was a beautiful, heartwarming presentation made to him by the President of the UNCF, Mr. William H. Gray, III, and Dr. Sebetha Jenkins, President of Jarvis Christian College and Vice Chair of the Board and Chair of Member Institutions of United Negro College Fund. Mr. Gray’s words were “Michael H. Jordan has been someone very special to all of us in the UNCF family. He’s been a member of the board for 18 years, but for 10 years, he has served as chair of the board of UNCF. This is his last dinner too, as chair. Tonight we would like to just say thank you for your outstanding contributions to the UNCF, and your leadership as the longest serving chair in the 60-year history of the UNCF, along with the wonderful guidance you gave to me and all ofthe senior staff, helping us to raise the money so that so many young people could get an education. And so, on behalf of the UNCF families tonight, we want to present you, personally, with the Frederick Paterson Awards to say thank you for 10 years of outstanding service as the chair of the United Negro College Fund.”

The third co-chair was Raymond V. Gilmartin, Chairman, President and Chief CEO of Merck & Company, Inc. Mr. Gilmartin’s comments were “Thank you for coming this evening and supporting this great event, and to Mr. Bill Gray, you’re an outstanding leader, you’re an inspirational leader, you’re a visionary leader and you’ve done so much for this organization. I wish you the very best for the years ahead. I’m also honored to be surrounded by these young men and women, members of the next generation of cutting edge scientific talent here in America, and I urge each of you to remember their names and their faces because, someday, any one of us, may owe our health to them and to the work they’re doing now and in the years ahead. Back in 1995, when we announced the creation of the UNCF / Merck Science Initiative, we had high hopes for this program. And as we pointed out back then, African Americans are grossly underrepresented in the ranks of chemistry and biology PhD’s in the United States, and this was a situation that desperately needed to be addressed. We at Merck were determined to help the college fund address it. After all, the failure to support talented effort in American students, in seeking careers in science, was a loss, both for those students and science itself. For when we as a society fail to provide every person, every single one, with the opportunity to achieve their highest potential, we’re failing not just the present, but also the future. We cannot afford to leave untapped the potential of any child, any student, anywhere in America. The challenges we face are to great. The promises they hold too important to leave anyone behind. And that is why we’re proud to be helping to provide that opportunity each year to some of the brightest African American science students and researchers in the country.”

There were several honorees for the evening. The first among the honorees of was Mrs. Olivia H. Baker, originally from Ehrardt, South Carolina, who was honored with the Distinguished Alumni Award. In her lifetime, Mrs. Baker had served many vital roles to the community—roles such as mentor, teacher (teaching young people how to become nurse’s assistants), missionary (Women’s Missionary Society), student recruiter (Benedict College, where she received her degree), and many more. She has truly given from the heart, helping every opportunity she had. Her award was presented by Rubye Taylor Drake, President of the National Alumni Council, Ms. Phyllis Ball, President of the Greater New York Inter Alumni Council, and Dr. Richard C. Miller, VP of African Affairs of Benedict College. Upon receiving her award, Mrs. Baker made the following comments. “I am proud and honored to have received this prestigious award. I would like to thank the United Negro College Fund, my family, my church, and my friends for giving me the continued loving support for all my endeavors. I will continue to work for the United Negro College Fund for the integration of a spiritual, intellectual and educational development for all our young people. God Bless you all. Thank you so very much again.”

We then heard a word from the UNCF President, who addressed the audience. “I take great pleasure in presenting this year’s president awards to two people who have supported UNCF in their own, unique ways for decades. They are the kind of people who make this organization what it is, working in local communities, giving tirelessly of their time and effort, and making it possible for us to support over 65,000 students.”

The second honoree, who received the President’s award, which was presented by Mr. Gray, was Dr. George Wallerstein. Dr. Wallerstein has supported the UNCF for over 4 decades. He is the establisher of the Henry C. McBay Fellowship Program, which has given students up to $10,000 in research grants, helping to further the UNCF’s reputation in the field of academic research. Upon receiving his award, Dr. Wallerstein gave the following address to the audience. "We have been a contributor for the past forty years to a variety of causes, recognizing the black colleges rather early on. They have provided the opportunity through advanced education to Afro-American students who were virtually excluded from the educational system. More recently, even as other opportunities have opened up, UNCF causes have proven their effectiveness by providing our society with the majority of Afro-American doctors, lawyers, and graduate students in every field around. They’ve done this despite their small size, small facilities, and overworked faculty. To enhance the opportunity for the UNCF to improve itself, I initiated and have been supporting the McBay Fellowship Fund, named after the distinguished professor of Chemistry at Morehouse College. The McBay Fund provides research opportunities for UNCF faculty and students at many of the schools. At present, the endowment is only able to provide summer support, that two months salary for a faculty member and student working together. However, if they are fully funded, they will cover a full year of sabbaticals. I will be continuing this support and, with the help of many of you, we can expand it into a major program. To quote from Winston Churchill’s famous speech after he became Prime Minister, starting with the famous blood-sweat toil and tears, he ended by saying “So come, let us join hands together and move forward.”

The third honoree was Ms. Merri Dee, the Director of Community Relations for WGN Television in Chicago. She is celebrating 30 years at Chicago’s WGN-TV, Channel 9. Merri has served in many capacities throughout her media career, including liaison, a manager of children’s charities, narrator, radio personality, newscaster, and radio talk show host. Upon receiving her award, Ms. Dee started off by saying “I am so honored. I really am. My heart is just touched. I said ‘don’t cry now, little girl; you’ll mess up your makeup’ I am honored to be in th presence of the other awardees this evening. This is really spectacular. I thought we did up really well in Chicago. This is really something. Congratulations to each one of you for being here, this evening. I just wanted to take a moment to say ‘thank you for the award’, but thank you for being here tonight, not just to honor the awardees, but because you didn’t have to be here—you didn’t have to do this. Your presence here, this evening, really says a loud message, sings a wonderful song, saying ‘support UNCF students’ because they have to go to school, because they must become doctors and lawyers and teachers and astronomers and so forth. They must be whole human beings. That's what you say when you attend an event like this. So, thank you—a big thank you to Bill Gray. We want to thank you very much, Bill, You have been unbelievable in your role. Thank you all, and God bless you."

The final honoree, to receive the Frederick D. Patterson Award, was Michael S. Dell, the Chairman of the Board and CEO of Dell, Inc. Michael Dell is a pioneer in the area of direct computer sales to customers. It was this vision that made his company grow from a small clone computer distributor in 1985, called “PC’s Limited,” to the world’s leading computer company, and rank Mr. Dell in third place on the Forbes 500 List. He is ranked in fourth place on Fortune magazine’s “Most Admired” lists, both globally and in the United States, and was named among the top 10 most trusted and respected companies by a Wall Street Journal poll. Mr. Dell has been actively helping UNCF students learn about technology by helping the communities with donations. Michael gave thanks for the award when he received it, saying how important it was for young, African-American students to have access to technology in their learning process. "I am privileged to be here to accept this award on behalf of the more than 45,000 men and women at Dell around the world, and also to accept this award on behalf of my own family. I’m here tonight as a representative of two families that share a commitment to education. And tonight, I’m in the company of people who understand the value and the power of education. Each of you know that education is the foundation of what we hold most dear in our culture. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are predicated on the opportunity to understand the world we live in, to channel and satisfy our curiosity, and to demonstrate our capabilities and our ideas. In this room, we all know the merits and miracles of education. But outside of this room, there is less understanding. There are places where the good news about education have failed to reach, and not just poor parts of our world and parts of our own country, but places that can be still harder to reach and to penetrate. It’s at the hearts and minds of people where education must take root. It’s our responsibility to help spread the good news and sow the seeds of passion for learning, and it’s in that spirit that Frederick Paterson founded the UNCF. It’s in that spirit that my dear friend an colleague, Bill Gray, has lead this wonderful organization for the past twelve and a half years. It’s in that spirit that the Dell families have demonstrated their commitment to education through their dedicated efforts to make technology more accessible and affordable for all. Dell has become the leading technology partner in the education community. There are few accomplishments that we are more proud of and few responsibilities that we take more seriously. We don’t consider ourselves just a vendor for schools, but rather as a partner in helping students learn 21st century skills and achieve their goal potential. Thank you.”

There was a presentation made--a wonderfully creative sculpture--to Mr. Gray and his wife, for all of their years of hard work and dedication to the cause of the UNCF. Also, they announced the new President of UNCF, Mr. Michael L. Lomax, President of Dillard University, who will take office in June of 2004.

Mr. Gray gave a warm, heartfelt farewell to all, saying “I would like to thank each and every one of you for the honor it’s been for me, personally, to have played such a vital role in the educative process for so many thousands of young men and women. Having been President of the UNCF for this many years has made me realize that education cannot be taken for granted. I, myself, the Board of the UNCF, its staff, and all of its members, as well as all of the UNCS families, agree that, with proper education, an individual’s ability to succeed will be far greater than without. There are thousands of young men and women who have made it their dream to obtain a college education. We at UNCF, at the very outset, have made it our commitment to realize these dreams for them, so that, as today’s students, they may grow to become tomorrow’s men and women in leadership. We are proud of the fact that we have been able to support over 65,000 students each year since the UNCF began in 1944. I would also like everyone to think for a moment about the Presidents of all of our member universities, who have done so much, in return for so little, to better the lives of young men and women across the country, many who come from families with incomes of $30,000 or less. Had it not been for their tireless work and dedication, many of today’s doctors, scientists, and legal professionals would not be where they area today. Thank you, again, for all of your continued support and commitment.”

Other notable dignitaries who were on hand were Rev. Floyd Flake, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Senator Charles Schumer, Former NYC Mayor David Dinkins, and many business heads and corporate people. The event was sponsored by a host of major corporations, including American Express, NBC News Channel 4, and many others.

Rev. Curtis gave a wonderful benediction, and the audience then moved into the other ballroom for a generous dessert that was provided courtesy of NBC News Channel 4. We would like to thank Renee E. Warren from Noelle-Elaine Media, Inc. who did a wonderful job with the public relations firm, which was handled professionally.

We all had a great time. Anyone wishing to received more information on the United Negro College Fund, may visit their website, at www.uncf.org.

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