Tag: honorary degree

THOMAS F. MALONE, a renowned scientist who warned about the dangers of global warming, and who received an honorary degree in 2007, died July 6, 2013. He was 96. An honors graduate of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, he earned his PhD at MIT in 1946. Editor of the Compendium of Meteorology published in 1951, a prominent member of the National Academy of Sciences’ Committee on Meteorology, and Staff Planning Director for the University Committee on Meteorology, he was an influential voice in the expansion of research and education in this field during the second half of the 20th century. He served simultaneously as president of the American Meteorological Society and the American Geophysical Union and was later president of Sigma Xi. An adviser to the Kennedy administration, he was a catalyst in an international collaborative program by national weather services and scientific organizations to improve weather forecasting and explore climate change. Elected Foreign Secretary of the National Academy of Sciences, he initiated the Academy’s Committee on International Security and Arms Control in 1981, opened discussions with a counterpart group in the Soviet Academy of Sciences, and was instrumental in creating international scientific study of the environmental consequences of a nuclear war. As Founding Secretary General of the international Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment and as Dean of the Graduate School at the University of Connecticut, he warned of the dangers of global warming in an address at the California Institute of Technology in 1970 and repeated this warning on national television in 1984. A participant in the 1972 UN Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment and the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, he advocated international cooperation in pursuit of a vision for a sustainable global society founded on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace. Malone came to Connecticut in 1955 from a tenured academic appointment at MIT to establish the Travelers Weather Service, which pioneered in weather probabilities. He went on to become senior vice president and director of research at the Travelers, moving to the University of Connecticut in 1970. He moderated the annual Business Outlook of the Greater Hartford Chamber of Commerce during the 1960s and received the Chamber’s Charter Oak Leadership Medal in 1962. He was named Connecticut Conservationist of the year in 1968 for his leadership of the 100-member Connecticut Clean Water Task Force. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by Wesleyan University in 2007 with the citation: “Your tireless efforts as a steward of Mother Earth are manifestations of your personal commitment, as a man of science and as a man of deep faith, to making life on the planet sustainable for all people and for all time. As an initiator of international and interdisciplinary research programs, you have been recognized as a world leader in building the human capacity to endow future generations with a better world—and a better place to live.” Survivors include his wife, Rosalie Doran Malone, six children, 17 grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.

DOREEN B. FREEMAN, who together with her husband, the late Houghton “Buck” Freeman ’43, generously supported Wesleyan and especially the Freeman Asian Scholars Program, died July 12, 2013, at age 90. The Freeman family, including Buck, Doreen and their son Graeme Freeman ’77, established the Freeman Foundation in 1993 after the death of Buck’s father, Mansfield Freeman, Wesleyan class of 1916, who had contributed greatly to Wesleyan’s East Asian Studies Program.

Buck Freeman was chairman of the Freeman Foundation, and Doreen was a co-trustee. They demonstrated a hands-on style of giving that ensured a personal connection with all those receiving foundation support. She was especially attentive to the Freeman Asian Scholars Program – the foundation’s landmark contribution to Wesleyan. Established in 1995 to promote cross-cultural understanding between the United States and Asia, the program provides scholarships for exceptional students from 11 East Asian countries to earn bachelor’s degrees at Wesleyan. The program has supported more than 340 students.

Doreen was instrumental in interviewing Freeman Asian Scholar candidates each year until 2010, and was an especially staunch supporter of candidates who came from challenging backgrounds with limited opportunities to study abroad. She also was particularly interested in hearing from the program’s students and alumni about the details of their lives.

“For decades the Freeman family has helped Wesleyan fulfill its mission of providing the best in liberal arts education,” said Wesleyan President Michael Roth. “We are deeply grateful for all that the foundation has done and continues to do, and we mourn the passing of Doreen, who with her husband Buck, were wonderful friends. Our hearts go out to her daughter Linda, son Graeme and their families.”

Doreen was born in England in 1923. During World War II, she proudly served in one of Britain’s women’s service corps. At American International Group (AIG) – which was co-founded by Mansfield Freeman, and where her husband later rose to the top levels of company leadership – she took the initiative to “show the ropes” to younger AIG spouses. She was an avid reader and loved novels and memoirs about Asia.

Buck and Doreen’s generosity has made an enormous impact on Wesleyan. A gift at the end of the Campaign for Liberal Learning in the 1980s jump-started construction of Bacon Field House and the new pool in the Freeman Athletic Center. They also supported the Center for East Asian Studies, the Wesleyan Fund and other special projects. Their giving made them Wesleyan’s largest donors ever.

Wesleyan awarded Doreen an honorary degree in 2003, citing her as “a philanthropist whose strong compassion springs from commitment, grit, and a backbone of steel.”

Among those who survive are her daughter; her son, Graeme H. Freeman ’77; five grandchildren; two step-grandsons; her brother; and several nephews and step-nephews.