Alumni Gazette
Arts, Sciences, and Engineering
Dean’s Medal
Robert Goergen ’60
Goergen is a highly regarded business executive, educational philanthropist, and successful entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman, CEO of Blyth Inc. A University trustee since 1982, Goergen served as board chairman from 1991 to 2003 and has been a member of the Investment and Financial Planning Committees since 2003. He was named chairman emeritus in 2008 and currently chairs the Strategic Planning Advisory Committee. Goergen’s history of supporting the University includes a leadership gift to fund the renovation of the University’s athletic center, named in his honor in 2000. Goergen and his wife, Pamela, established the Goergen Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in 1997. And his gift funded the Robert B. Goergen Hall for Biomedical Engineering and Optics, dedicated in 2007. Goergen is a charter member of the George Eastman Circle, the University’s leadership annual giving society.
Larry Bloch ’75
James S. Armstrong ’54 Alumni Service Award
Bloch is a private investor who has served as a director of several private equity-sponsored companies, and is currently chairman of Diversified Global Graphic Group, a global provider of print and graphic communications services. A University trustee since 1992, Bloch is chair of the board’s Development Committee and a member of the Executive Committee. His support to Rochester includes a leadership gift to establish the Larry & Cindy Bloch Fitness Center, located in the Goergen Athletic Center and dedicated in 2000 in honor of Bloch and his wife, Cindy. He serves as national cochair and is a charter member of the George Eastman Circle, the University’s leadership annual giving society. Bloch was instrumental in the creation of the George Eastman statue, which was installed on the Eastman Quadrangle in 2009.
John Major ’67
Distinguished Alumnus Award, Hajim School
Major is the founder and president of the Technologies Solutions Group. He’s a member of the Hajim School’s Dean’s Advisory Committee and a former member of the Trustees’ Alumni Council of the College. Major is a charter member of the George Eastman Circle, the University’s leadership annual giving society.
Lou Lange ’70
Distinguished Alumnus Award, School of Arts & Sciences
Lange is a general partner at Asset Management, an investment firm in Palo Alto, Calif., and the former chairman, chief executive officer, and chief scientific officer of CV Therapeutics Inc., a company he founded in 1992. A University trustee since 1997, he has served a chair or a member of several board committees. He is a charter member of the George Eastman Circle, the University’s leadership annual giving society.
Nomi Bergman ’85
John N. Wilder Award
Bergman is nationally recognized as one of the top executives in the cable and telecommunications industry. She is president of Bright House Networks, the nation’s sixth largest cable operator, headquartered in Syracuse.
School of Medicine and Dentistry
Ruth Lawrence ’49M (MD), ’58 (Res)
Distinguished Alumna Award
A highly recognized authority on neonatal nutrition, Lawrence has been a professor of pediatrics for six decades at the School of Medicine and Dentistry, where she is medical director for the Ruth A. Lawrence Poison and Drug Information Center.
Rick Hodes ’82M (MD)
Humanitarian Award
Hodes is the Ethiopian medical director for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he has worked for more than 25 years to provide medical help to some of country’s poorest residents.
Frederick Parker Jr. ’58, ’62M (MD)
John N. Wilder Award
Parker is a professor emeritus and former chairman of surgery at SUNY Upstate Medical University. He is a charter member of the George Eastman Circle, the University’s leadership annual giving society.
Robert Scala ’56M (MS), ’58M (PhD)
Alumni Service Award
Scala is the former senior scientific advisor of Exxon Biomedical Sciences Corp. and is a member, distinguished fellow, and past president and historian of the Society of Toxicology. He served from 2002 to 2009 on the School of Medicine and Dentistry’s Alumni Council, including three years as president, beginning in 2006.
School of Nursing
The family of the late Ruth Miller Brody ’42N, ’46 (EdM)
Dean’s Medal
Bernard Brody ’51M (MD), is a retired primary care physician and former senior vice president of medical affairs at the Genesee Hospital in Rochester. Rachel Brody Bandych is senior counsel at the law firm of Underberg & Kessler in Rochester. She and her husband, David, live in Rochester. Sarah Brody Epstein is an independent test kitchen professional and a test cook at Sunset Magazine. She and her husband, David, live in Palo Alto, Calif. Their daughter, Shaina Brody Epstein ’09, is finishing her master’s degree at the University of San Francisco. And their daughter, Hannah Elizabeth Epstein, is an undergraduate at James Cook University in Australia.
Evelyn Lutz ’55N, ’63
John N. Wilder Award
Lutz is a retired faculty member, whose 42-year career included appointments at the University, Case Western Reserve University, Kent State University, and Xavier University. She is a charter member of the George Eastman Circle, the University’s leadership annual giving society.
Simon School
Jay Steven Benet ’76S (MBA)
Distinguished Alumnus Award
Benet is vice chairman and chief financial officer of the Travelers Companies, where he previously served as executive vice president and chief financial officer of the company. He is a charter member of the George Eastman Circle, the University’s leadership annual giving society.
Evans Lam ’83, ’84S (MBA)
John N. Wilder Award
Lam is senior vice president of investments and senior portfolio manager at UBS Financial Services Inc.