Five alumni to receive Eggers Awards during Reunion Weekend

Five alumni to receive Eggers Awards during Reunion WeekendMay 30, 2006SU News ServicesSUnews@syr.edu

Five Syracuse University alumni who have celebrated at least their 50th anniversaries as alumni will be honored with Melvin A. Eggers Senior Alumni Awards during Reunion Weekend, June 2-4. They are Warren E. Boin ’42, Wilfreda Brown Stone ’43, LAW ’44, Mel Elfin ’51, Robert Laubach ’56, G’63 and Jack M. Stewart ’46, G’50.

Vice Chancellor and Provost Deborah A. Freund will give the awards during the Half-Century Dinner at the Sheraton Syracuse University Hotel & Conference Center. A cocktail reception begins the evening at 6 p.m., followed by the awards presentation at 7 p.m., and dinner immediately following.

The Half-Century Dinner is hosted annually during Reunion Weekend by SU’s Office of Alumni Relations; this year’s dinner will be open to all SU alumni and friends.

Former Chancellor William P. Tolley, who instituted the award program in 1988 to commemorate Chancellor Eggers’ outstanding years at SU, established the Eggers Award. Recipients who best demonstrate outstanding loyalty and service to SU or their communities are selected by a committee of the Board of Directors of the SU Alumni Association.

Individuals who would like to attend this dinner or would like more information on the Half-Century Dinner or the Eggers Awards should call (315) 443-3516 or (800) SUALUMS (782-5867). To view the weekend highlights, hotel and travel information, and the online registration form, visit the Reunion Web site at http://alumni.syr.edu/reunion/index_flash.htm.

Warren E. Boin ’42

An active, well-liked member of the campus community, Warren E. Boin of Morristown, N.J., is a member of the Founders Society at SU and has gifted chairs for the Rose and Jules R. Setnor Auditorium in Crouse College.

As an undergraduate, Boin was a member of Sigma Chi fraternity; Alpha Xi Alpha, an art honorary society; and sang in the SU Glee Club. He still sings in close harmony as lead voice in the Gondolaires barbershop quartet, with whom he has performed for more than 25 years. As an alumnus, Boin participated in the University’s pre-college counseling, interviewing area students with interest in SU. Two of Boin’s three children are also SU alumni. With his wife, Norma, Boin previously operated an arts and crafts program on several cruise ships, traveling the world. After retirement from Boin Arts and Crafts Co., a retail and mail order crafts supplier, he began modeling for print and broadcast media.

Boin returns frequently to campus for reunions. He received a bachelor of fine arts degree from SU .

Wilfreda Brown Stone ’43, LAW ’44

A specialist in estate, real estate and tax planning with the Giles Marsh Goodwin and Stone law firm in Watertown, N.Y., Wilfreda Brown Stone ended her 42-year law career in 1986. She was the first woman to become president of the Jefferson County Bar Association.

Stone has been very active in her community as well. She has been a trustee and vice chairman of The Nature Conservancy of Central New York; past director of the Watertown Foundation; past member and president of the Watertown City School Board; past chairman of the Small Cities Committee of the New York State School Board Association; and a member of the auxiliary to the Jefferson County Medical Society and the Jefferson County Historical Society.

At SU, she and her husband, Dr. Irwin K. Stone, a retired physician who attended SU, are members of the Society of Fellows, the Chancellor’s Council and the Founders Society. Stone and her sisters Barbara Barnett ’35 and Olive Hoffman ’32 established several scholarships and funds at SU, including the Oscar J Brown Law Scholarship, in honor of their father; and the Wilfreda Mott Dean’s Discretionary Fund for Biology, named in honor of their aunt. The student activities room in the Hildegarde and J. Myer Schine Student Center is named in honor of their parents, Oscar J and Mary Mott Brown.

While a student at SU, Stone was a member of Delta Delta Delta sorority, the International Relations Society and a participant in the Law School Review.

Mel Elfin ’51

Upon completing a dual major in American studies and journalism in 1951, Mel Elfin graduated magna cum laude from SU and went on to Harvard where he earned a master’s degree in American history. During the Korean War, he served as an intelligence officer with the Strategic Air Command. After his separation from active duty, Elfin joined the Long Island Daily Press as a reporter in 1954 and two years later won a George Polk Memorial Award as well as a Newspaper Guild citation for his series of stories exposing a racket in so-called “bonus” mortgages, eventually resulting in their being outlawed by the New York state legislature.

In 1958, Elfin joined the staff of Newsweek in New York City and was appointed its education editor in 1961. Four years later, he was chosen as the magazine’s Washington bureau chief, a post in which he served for 20 years, a record for longevity in such a senior editorial position in the nation’s capital. During his tenure, he privately interviewed seven U.S. Presidents and in 1972 was among the handful of journalists who accompanied Richard Nixon on his historic journey to China. In 1985 he moved to U.S. News & World Report, where he served as the founding editor of the magazine’s now-standard annual editions devoted to college guides and rankings.

Elfin, who was awarded an Arents Medal by the University for “Excellence in Journalism” in 1984, is an active member of the Syracuse Advisory Board in Washington. Elfin retired from active journalism in 1998, and now lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife, Dr. Margery Elfin.

Robert Laubach ’56, G’63

Robert Laubach is a devoted alumnus and visionary, dedicated to the cause of worldwide literacy. His passion led to the founding of a worldwide literacy organization based in Syracuse, Laubach Literacy, and his teachings have reached more than one billion individuals in the past 50 years.

Laubach began his work in adult literacy while still a teenager in the Philippines. The son of Laubach Literacy International founder Frank C. Laubach, he attended Princeton University and Wooster College, before joining his father’s work in 1946, traveling with him to more than 65 countries with literacy campaigns that have provided millions with the necessary tools to read.

In 1951, Laubach enrolled at SU for a master’s degree in journalism, and later–in 1963–earned a Ph.D in reading education.

Laubach–or “Dr. Bob” as he is known–used what he learned about adult literacy while working with his father to establish the literacy journalism program at SU in 1952. Later, he founded New Readers Press (NRP), which publishes instructional materials for older teens and adults at basic literacy through GED levels, for those who have learning disabilities, and for English-as-a-second-language (ESL) students. NRP is the publishing house of ProLiteracy Worldwide, the largest organization of community-based adult literacy programs in the world. Robert is a lifetime member of the ProLiteracy Worldwide board of directors.

Jack M. Stewart ’46, G’50

Jack M. Stewart has been the heart and soul of Syracuse University for alumni and students in Northeast Ohio for over 35 years. In fact, he is known as “Mr. Syracuse University” in the Cleveland area.

He is currently the Northeast Ohio Chairman of the SU Alumni Representative Program, a position he has held for 40 years. He is also a three-time past president of the SU Alumni Club of Cleveland. He has served on the SU Corporate Advisory Board and from 1964-65 was vice president of the SU National Alumni Association. In that position, he chaired the committee to develop a national alumni representative program for the University. He received the Outstanding Alumni Award in 1976 and the Distinguished Alumni Representative Award in 1991. Over the past 37 years, he and his wife Tudy have annually hosted freshman sendoffs at their home in Pepper Pike.

Prior to his retirement in 2002, he was a professional manufacturing engineer. From 1957-2002, he was owner and president of Industrial Technological Associates, Inc., management and engineering consultants to industry and government. He is also very involved with civic, political and charitable activities as well as causes related to Israel and Judaism.

Stewart holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and a master’s degree in industrial engineering from SU.