Release

UAlbany Foundation Announces Citizen Laureate Winners

Contact: Catherine Herman (518) 437-4980

ALBANY, N.Y. (April 12, 2005) - Morris “Marty” Silverman, principal and founder of the Marty and Dorothy Silverman Foundation in New York City and the Renaissance Corp. of Albany, John E. Kelly III, senior vice president of Technology and Intellectual Property for IBM, John C. Egan, president of Renaissance Corporation of Albany, and Meredith A. Butler, dean of Library Faculty and director of University Libraries, have been named recipients of the 2005 University at Albany Foundation Citizen Laureate Awards.

For more than twenty-five years, the Foundation’s Citizen Laureate Awards have honored outstanding leaders in business and industry, government and academia. The awards are the highest honors bestowed by the University at Albany Foundation. Egan, Silverman and Kelly will receive the Community Laureate Award, while Butler will receive the Academic Laureate Award.

The award recipients will be honored at a black-tie dinner on Thursday, May 5, at 6 p.m. at the Hall of Springs in Saratoga Springs. The event is a fundraiser for the University at Albany Foundation. Cocktails will be from 6- 7 p.m. with the awards program and dinner to follow. For ticket information, call (518) 442-5310. Proceeds from this dinner are used to support the educational mission of the University at Albany. This year the funds will support the new Inaugural Scholarship Fund, established by the University at Albany’s new President, Kermit L. Hall.

Sponsorship of the dinner at $1,750 for a table of ten or $1,400 for a table of eight entitles an organization, or a group of individuals, to priority seating, a prominent listing in the program and special acknowledgment at the event.

Morris “Marty” Silverman, through the Marty and Dorothy Silverman Foundation, formed in 1984 and named for him and his late wife, provides support for numerous programs that benefit education, abused and neglected children, and indigent senior citizens. The Foundation has also helped fund a number of Jewish causes, including the Holocaust Museum Houston; a Jewish chapel at West Point Academy; and housing for thousands of former Soviet Jews in Israel. Silverman has been a supporter of UAlbany’s Life Science Research Initiative through a $1 million gift, and has also supported the Jewish studies program at the University. He is also behind the push to create the National Biomedical Nanotech Center in Albany. The plan calls for staff members from Albany Medical Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University in the Bronx and the University at Albany to work under one roof developing biomedical devices and procedures. Silverman has said he wants the center to be located at the ever-expanding Albany NanoTech. He was born in Troy on May 23, 1912 and graduated from Troy High in 1930 and from Albany Law School in 1936. Silverman became one of the first Jews to graduate from Albany Law School in 1936, and went on to practice law with the Legal Aid Society in Albany.

John E. Kelly III, is responsible for IBM’s technical and innovation strategies as well as company-wide policies on open standards and intellectual property. In 2001, IBM, under Kelly’s leadership, invested $100 million worth of enabling software and intellectual property to help the UAlbany Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics build its 300 mm wafer infrastructure. This investment also included internship slots and mentoring for over twenty UAlbany students, computing equipment and cash grants for UAlbany professors, and processing equipment donations for existing UAlbany laboratories. Most recently, Kelly helped engineer the $400M ASML R&D Center and the $450M IBM R&D center at UAlbany, as announced in Governor Pataki’s 2005 State of the State Address. Kelly was previously awarded the University at Albany Medallion in 2000.

As president of Renaissance Corporation of Albany, John C. Egan will oversee the completion of the 21-acre University Heights project that will combine the resources of Albany College of Pharmacy, Albany Law School, Albany Medical College and the Sage Colleges. Egan also serves as chairman of the Harriman Research and Technology Development Corporation (HRTDC). Partnering with UAlbany, HRTDC will transform Albany’s 300-acre Harriman State Office Campus into a world-class Research and Technology Park by creating state-of-the-art research and office facilities that will serve as a catalyst for innovation in science and technology. Prior to joining the Renaissance Corporation, Egan served for eight years as Chief Executive Officer of Albany International Airport. Under Egan’s leadership, the Airport Authority constructed a new terminal, parking garage, air traffic control tower, cargo facility and New York State Police Executive Hangar. Egan was also the driving force behind an effort to bring Southwest Airlines to Albany, a decision that resulted in Albany airfares declining by more than thirty percent.

In 2000, Meredith A. Butler was appointed the State University of New York's first Distinguished Librarian by the SUNY Board of Trustees. She has served on the Board of Directors of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and the ARL Membership Committee. In 1980, while head of Public Services at Drake Memorial Library at SUNY Brockport, Dean Butler received the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Librarianship. Established in 2004 by a gift from Dean Butler, the Dean and Director’s New Initiatives Fund for Albany’s University Libraries will allow future deans and directors of Albany’s University Libraries to make strategic investments in new initiatives to advance the collections and services of the University Libraries. Under her leadership, Albany's Science Library was opened in October 1999 and Albany's Campaign for the Libraries reached a successful conclusion in 1999, exceeding its $3.5 million goal by more than $300,000.

Founded in 1967, the University at Albany Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the University at Albany. It is responsible for promoting, administering and investing charitable gifts and grants to benefit the University. In addition, it owns and operates a growing real estate portfolio, which includes the University’s east campus in East Greenbush, home to UAlbany’s school of Public Health and where the Gen*NY*Sis Center for Excellence in Cancer Genomics is under construction. The foundation is committed to playing a significant role in supporting programs and research that contribute to the economic development of the Capital Region and New York State.