Seven distinguished Cornell alumni have been selected to receive the 1999 Frank H.T. Rhodes Exemplary Alumni Service Award, which recognizes their outstanding, long-term service to Cornell volunteer activities.
The 1999 recipients of the award, established in 1994 in the name of President Emeritus Frank H.T. Rhodes, are: Kenneth E. Ackley '60, M.Eng. (Chemical) '66; John J. Brennan D.V.M. '52; Anatole Browde '48; C. Richard Lynham '63; Shirley Yenoff Kingsly '47; John Nixon '53; and Lea Paxton Nixon '53. The award winners, all of whom have been extremely active in their clubs, classes, schools and colleges since graduation, will be recognized at a reception and dinner this Friday, Nov. 5. The following profiles were excerpted from the recognition program.
Ackley plays a vital role for Cornell as volunteer leader and classroom teacher. For many years, he participated in the manufacturing seminar course in the College of Engineering and is now a full-time senior lecturer in the School of Chemical Engineering. He is vice-president of his class and was reunion chair for two reunions. He created the Class of '60 web page and co-chaired the fund-raising effort for the Class of '60 Undergraduate Computing Laboratory. A University Council member for two terms and a member of the College of Engineering Campaign Committee for the recent capital campaign, he has -- among numerous other assignments -- co-organized the Joe King Memorial Golf Tournament in support of scholarships, acted as Business Plan Competition judge for the Entrepreneurship and Personal Enterprise Program and served as president of the Cornell Alumni Association of Greater Rochester.
A member of the University Council for two terms, Brennan served on its administrative board and chaired the Cornell Adult University Committee. He served the College of Veterinary Medicine as president of its alumni association, as a member of its campaign and development committees and continues as chair of its Quadrangle Club Committee. He has served as the College of Veterinary Medicine's representative to the Cornell Alumni Federation as well as a director-from-the-region to the Cornell Alumni Federation. He has been a member of the Committee on Alumni Trustee Nominations, the Regional Personal Solicitation Team Campaign Committee and president of the Capital District Cornell Club. In 1997, Brennan was awarded the Daniel Elmer Salmon Award for Distinguished Alumni Service by the College of Veterinary Medicine.
Browde is a leader in philanthropy -- nationally and in his St. Louis home. He motivates others with his energy, vision and contagious devotion. A lifetime member of the University Council, he has served on its Career Advising and Placement Committee, its Alumni Secondary Schools Subcommittee and in numerous other positions of leadership and responsibility. He was his company's liaison with the university, on the Electrical Engineering School Advisory Committee and sponsored research programs in microelectronics at Cornell. A former president and ongoing "pillar" of the Cornell Club of St. Louis and regional vice president of the Cornell Society of Engineers, he has chaired the St. Louis Secondary Schools Committee and dedicated his energies to the St. Louis Area Campaign. And, indeed, for the past 25 years or more, he has been known as "Mr. Cornell of St. Louis."
Kingsly, a lifetime member of the University Council, is always ready to assist Cornell, and she does so with infectious enthusiasm. She served the Federation of Cornell Clubs for 10 years as vice president, president and on its program planning, nominating and membership committees. She has been a vital member of Cornell clubs wherever she has resided, serving in various leadership roles for the Cornell Women's Club of Brooklyn, the Lackawanna Cornell Club and the Cornell Club of Northern New Jersey. She is a founding member of the Cornell Real Estate Council, was chair of the Cornell Fund Phonathon for two years, has served on the Human Ecology Advancement Committee and was chair of Cornell Adult University. She currently is on the advisory committee of Pathways to Life Quality, a joint research group of the College of Human Ecology and Ithaca College.
Lynham has held leadership positions in nearly every alumni organization from Cleveland to Ithaca. He served as president of the Cornell Association of Class Officers, the Cornell Club of Northeastern Ohio, the Class of 1963 and the Cornell Alumni Federation, which he helped to form as a merger of the Alumni Association and Federation of Cornell Clubs. He is a three-term member of the University Council and has been a member of the Committee on Alumni Trustee Nominations, the Cornell Alumni Admissions Ambassador Network and the East Asia Program advisory board. He currently serves as chair of the Northeastern Ohio Tower Club and of his class's 40th reunion campaign.
The Nixons are both highly productive members of the University Council. In Houston, and now in Atlanta, they have been vital members of their local Cornell clubs, participating in phonathons and the recent capital campaign, among other activities. They co-chaired their 40th and 45th reunion campaigns and have acted together as Cornell Fund representatives. John Nixon is an energetic fund-raiser for the Johnson Graduate School of Management, and Lea Nixon served on the College of Human Ecology Campaign Committee. John Nixon has been a member of the University Council's International Programs Committee and the university's Special Gifts Campaign Committee and chair of the Houston Campaign Committee. Currently a member of the Cornell Alumni Admission Ambassador Network, Lea Nixon has been a member of the Atlanta Campaign Committee, the Houston City Campaign Committee and chair of the Houston Secondary School Committee.
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