UpDate - Vol. 13, No. 35, Page 3
June 23, 1994
Honored group; Five graduates added to Alumni Wall of Fame
Five University of Delaware alumni were inducted into the
University's Alumni Wall of Fame at a ceremony May 20 in Newark.
Established in 1983 by the University's Board of Trustees, the
Wall of Fame is a photographic exhibit recognizing the professional
achievements of outstanding alumni in diverse fields. Annual
selections are made by the Alumni Association Awards Committee.
The awards ceremony was held in Mitchell Hall and was followed by
a reception at the home of University President and Mrs. David P.
Roselle, and a dinner at the Blue and Gold Club.
The Wall of Fame exhibit is housed in the Alumni Room of the
Perkins Student Center on Academy Street in Newark.
The five alumni honored at the event were Howard E. Cosgrove,
John N. McDowell and Sue Lewis Robinson, all of Wilmington; Jane
Margaret O'Brien of Roanoke, Va.; and Reed E. Pyeritz of Pittsburgh.
Howard E. Cosgrove
Howard E. Cosgrove is chairman, president and chief executive
officer of Delmarva Power & Light Co. in Wilmington.
He received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from
the University of Virginia, and a master's of business administration
from the University of Delaware. He also completed the Advanced
Management Program at Harvard University.
Cosgrove began his career with Delmarva Power in 1966. He was
named president and chief operating officer in October 1991; and on
October 1, 1992, he was elected to his current position. Since 1986,
he has been a member of the Board of Directors of Delmarva Power &
Light Co.
Cosgrove is a director of the Medical Center of Delaware Holding
Company; a trustee for the Delaware Foundation for Retarded Children;
a trustee of the University of Delaware; and a trustee of the
University of Delaware Research Foundation.
He is currently serving as United Negro College Fund annual
campaign chairman for 1992-1994; and as vice chairman of Wilmington
2000. Previously, he was chairman of the Delaware Economic and
Financial Advisory Committee and past vice chairman of the United Way
of Delaware. From 1989 until 1992, Cosgrove was a member of the
Delaware State School Board.
John N. McDowell
In 1938, John N. McDowell became the first full-time executive
secretary of the Alumni Association at the University of Delaware.
He left this position in 1943 to serve in World War II for three
years as a lieutenant in the U.S. Naval Reserve, after which he
returned to resume his responsibilities in the University's alumni and
public relations office during 1946. McDowell left the University in
1947 to become administrative assistant to former U.S. Rep. J. Caleb
Boggs for four years.
He later served as secretary of state of Delaware from 1953-58,
when Boggs was governor.
McDowell was president of McDowell Associates, a Wilmington
public relations and advertising firm, from 1953 until his retirement
in 1985. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of Delaware State
College from 1954-72, where he served as board president from 1956 to
1971. McDowell received an honorary doctorate from Delaware State
College in 1968.
He was a founder of the Delaware Committee of 100 and a member of
the executive committee of the Southern States Regional Education
Board. McDowell was listed in Who's Who in America for more than 30
years.
Jane Margaret O'Brien
Jane Margaret O'Brien earned her Ph.D. from the College of Arts
and Science at the University of Delaware in 1981. In 1991, she was
elected president of Hollins College in Virginia, after serving as an
associate professor and dean of faculty at Middlebury College of
Vermont.
O'Brien serves on the Board of Directors of the Norfolk-Southern
corporation and the Virginia Institute of Political Leadership. She is
a member of the executive board of the Kaleidoscope Project in
Undergraduate Education, and the Commission on Women in Higher
Education of the American Council of Education.
O'Brien received the 1990-91 Association of American Colleges
International Fellowship, the 1989-92 Kellogg National Leadership
Fellowship, and in 1991 was named as a White House Fellowship National
Finalist.
Reed E. Pyeritz
Reed E. Pyeritz earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry from the
University of Delaware in 1968, as the first recipient of the
Alexander J. Taylor Award, which recognizes the outstanding senior
male of each graduating class. He then went on to earn both a Ph.D.
and M.D. from Harvard University in 1972 and 1975, respectively. One
of the world's leading authorities on medical genetics, he has
published hundreds of research papers.
He was a leader of the research team at Johns Hopkins University
School of Medicine that discovered the cause of, and pioneered life-
saving treatment for, Marfan syndrome.
Pyeritz was a founding director of the American College of
Medical Genetics. Currently, he is the chairperson of the Department
of Human Genetics at Allegheny Singer Research Institute and director
of the Center for Medical Genetics for the Allegheny Health, Education
and Research Foundation.
He serves as a professor of medicine and pediatrics at the
Medical College of Pennsylvania and Hahnemann University.
Sue Lewis Robinson
The Hon. Sue Lewis Robinson served as assistant U.S. attorney for
the district of Delaware from 1983 until 1988, when she became the
U.S. magistrate judge for the district of Delaware.
In 1991, she was appointed by President George Bush to serve as a
district judge in the U.S. District Court for the district of
Delaware.
Robinson earned a bachelor of arts degree from the University of
Delaware in 1974 and a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania
Law School in 1978.
She has been a member of the Delaware State Bar Association,
Federal Bar Association, Delaware Trial Lawyers Association and the
American Inns of Court.
Robinson also has served on the Board of Directors of the
Delaware Curative Workshop and as a member of the United Way
Government Relations Committee. She has received numerous
commendations for her work in areas such as Medicare fraud and land
condemnation and, in 1988, was presented the Inspector General's
Integrity award by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.