Four alumni to receive Arents Pioneer Medals

Four alumni to receive Arents Pioneer MedalsMay 25, 2006Cynthia J. Moritzcjmoritz@syr.edu

The 2006 George Arents Pioneer Medal for outstanding accomplishments will be presented to four distinguished Syracuse University alumni on Saturday, June 3. The Arents Award Ceremony will be held at the OnCenter in downtown Syracuse. The evening will begin at 5:30 and will include the ceremony and a celebratory dinner.

The award is the highest alumni honor the University bestows. This year’s honorees are Gerald B. Cramer ’52, founder of Cramer Rosenthal & McGlynn LLC; David M. Crane L’80, former chief prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone; Ali Khalif Galaydh G’69, G’72, former prime minister of Somalia; and Kathrine V. Switzer ’68, G’72, the first woman to officially complete the Boston Marathon.

Gerald B. Cramer ’52

Gerald B. Cramer ’52 is co-founder and chairman emeritus of Cramer Rosenthal & McGlynn LLC, an investment firm that manages close to $10 billion. Cramer has had overall responsibility for its investment policy and was also a portfolio manager. He received his B.S. in accounting from the Martin J. Whiman School of Management and attended the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. He served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War.

Previously, Cramer was a senior partner at Oppenheimer & Co. and an associate with Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith.

He has served on Syracuse University’s Board of Trustees since 1995, including a term as vice chairman. He has been a strong supporter of Lubin House and the High School for Leadership and Public Service.

Cramer has become a major benefactor of the Maxwell School even though he is not a graduate of the school. More than three dozen students have been recipients of Cramer Scholarships; currently, four members of the Maxwell faculty hold the title of Cramer Professor.

In June 2004, Cramer was selected as the first recipient of the Maxwell School Horizon Award, which was established to recognize wise, inspirational volunteer leadership combined with exceptional philanthropic commitment.

Cramer has sat on the boards of Ripplewood Holdings; Tecnomatix Technologies Ltd., where he was chair; OSHAP Technologies; Prime Ventures; Glenayre Technologies; Edison Control Corp; and ProxyMed Inc. His community service activities include serving as director of Teatown Lake Reservation and formerly serving on the boards of St. Joseph’s Medical Center and the Glaucoma Foundation.

At SU, Cramer has served as a member of the School of Architecture Advisory Board and the Metropolitan New York Advisory Board. In 2003, he was a lecturer for the Berman Distinguished Lecture Series at the Whitman School.

David M. Crane L’80

David M. Crane was appointed a distinguished visiting professor of law at Syracuse University College of Law in the summer of 2005. He teaches international criminal law, international law and national security law. Additionally, he is a member of the faculty of the Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism, a joint venture with the Maxwell School.

Prior to joining the College of Law, Crane was for three years the chief prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, an international war crimes tribunal, appointed to that position by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in April 2002. He was responsible for the investigation, indictment and prosecution of those who bear the greatest responsibility for violations of international humanitarian laws during the civil war in Sierra Leone in the 1990s.

Crane worked closely with the Special Court to ensure that Sierra Leone’s former dictator, Charles Taylor, was brought to justice, despite the equivocation of some leaders in West Africa.

Appointed to the Senior Executive Service of the United States in 1997, Crane has held numerous key managerial positions during his three decades of public service in the U.S. government, including serving as a senior inspector general in the Department of Defense, assistant general counsel of the Defense Intelligence Agency, and Waldemar A. Solf Professor of International Law at the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s School.

Crane holds a bachelor of general studies degree in history summa cum laude and a master’s degree in African studies from Ohio University and a doctor of law degree from Syracuse University.

His numerous awards include the Intelligence Community Gold Seal Medallion, the Department of Defense/DoDIG Distinguished Civilian Service Medal and the Legion of Merit. In 2005, he was awarded the Medal of Merit from Ohio University and the Distinguished Service Award from Syracuse University College of Law for his work in West Africa. Prior to his departure from West Africa, Crane was made a Paramount Chief by the Civil Society Organizations of Sierra Leone.

Ali Khalif Galaydh G’69 G’72

Ali Khalif Galaydh was the prime minister of Somalia from September 2000 until December 2001, as well as its one-time minister of industry. He was an official with the Somali Ministry of the Interior during the last democratically elected government in the 1960s but fled in 1982 to avoid detention when he and several colleagues with Western ties fell out of favor with the ruling powers.

Along with hundreds of other Somalis, Galaydh participated in a Somali National Peace Conference in the city of Arta in the Republic of Djibouti. He was instrumental in drafting a national charter based on Somalia’s 1960 constitution, which sought to preserve the rule of law, decentralized democratic self-governance, human rights and a market-led economy. The assembly of delegatesthen selected a 245-member Parliament, and with strong support Galaydh was invited to become prime minister.

Galaydh taught in the Maxwell School’s Department of Public Administration from 1989-1996, attaining a full professorship in 1994. He is currently a visiting professor at the University of Minnesota’s Hubert Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs.

Kathrine V. Switzer ’68 G’72

In 1967, Kathrine V. Switzer made history by becoming the first woman to officially complete the Boston Marathon, a race which, until 1972, was exclusively for men. She entered the race as K.V. Switzer, whom officials assumed was a man. The day of the race was cold and sleety, and Switzer was dressed in a bulky sweatsuit.

Four miles into the event, the co-director of the race, Jock Semple, realized Switzer was a woman. He charged onto the road in an effort to tear the number off Switzer’s back and pull her out of the race. But a body block thrown by Switzer’s former husband, Tom Miller ’70, sent Semple reeling and enabled Switzer to continue and complete the competition. The incident, which was captured in several famous photographs, made Switzer part of racing and women’s rights history.

Seven years later, Switzer won the women’s division of the New York City Marathon; in 1976, Runner’s World magazine proclaimed her Runner of the Decade, and in 2000, the same magazine named her one of four of running’s Visionaries of the Century.

Following the end of her athletic career, Switzer became director of media affairs and sports programs for Avon, and later founded the Avon International Running Circuit for Women, creating more than 400 races in 27 countries. Through these events and Switzer’s lobbying, the International Olympic Committee voted to include the women’s marathon in the 1984 games.

Switzer also has been a sports broadcaster for ABC and other regional networks for the past 20 years. She has done expert commentary for hundreds of running events, including the 1984 and 1988 Olympics and Emmy Award-winning performances for the New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and Boston marathons. Switzer is also a public relations consultant and frequent lecturer. She is the author of “Running and Walking for Women Over 40” (St. Martin’s Griffin, 1998) and the co-author of the just-released “26.2: Marathon Stories” (Rodale Press).

Switzer has served on several boards, including the President’s Council on Physical Fitness, the Women’s Sports Foundation, the Lynchburg College Board of Overseers and Simmons College Sponsors Committee, and the Board of Visitors at SU’s College of Arts and Sciences.