Champagne Brunch
President Harker hosts brunch to honor donors
3:06 p.m., June 11, 2015--It was the beautiful Saturday morning of Alumni Weekend when dozens of loyal donors and supporters gathered at the President’s House to join University of Delaware President Patrick Harker for the President’s Champagne Brunch.
An opportunity for the president to personally thank the University’s leadership donors and supporters, this year’s brunch offered guests the chance to express their thanks and good wishes to the outgoing president.
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An intimate crowd of supporters raised their glasses as Trustee John Cochran proposed a toast in honor of Harker’s dedication to the University over the past eight years. “In a weekend that celebrates our alumni, our community, our UD, it goes without saying that part of what makes our University so great is our president,” Cochran said.
“For eight years you’ve led with an incredible vision for UD’s potential,” Cochran noted, sharing some of Harker’s most notable contributions: the Science, Technology and Advanced Research (STAR) Campus, Harker Lab (formerly the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Laboratory) and the University’s most diverse and talented group of both students and faculty.
Listening were alumnus Edward George Grochowski, Class of 1959, who flew in from California to attend the event with his niece Linda Jones, Class of 1983 and 1988, and her husband Larry Jones, Class of 1981.
Grochowski attributes his family’s long history of successful scholars to his humble beginnings at UD in the late 1950s. “We owe it all to the University,” he said.
A Wilmington High School graduate, Grochowski decided to attend UD, where he was awarded an academic scholarship. Fast forward nearly 60 years and Grochowski now contributes to UD through a scholarship he established in his name, the Edward Thomas Grochowski Sr. Engineering Scholarship, to support a rising junior or senior in the College of Engineering.
His niece Linda Jones says her Uncle Ed is why she went to the University of Delaware. It was here that she met her husband Larry Jones, while they were both serving as emergency medical technicians for UD. Linda is the vice president of emergency and trauma services for the Christiana Care Health System, where this year she will celebrate 28 years of service.
The entire family was also in town to celebrate her induction into the University’s Wall of Fame later that evening. “We love the campus. It’s been great to be a part [of UD],” Linda said.
Sitting at a table near the Grochowski family was Renee O’Leary, children’s book author and retired public school teacher. O’Leary became a Blue Hen years ago when she came to Delaware so that her late husband John D. O’Leary could complete his residency.
In the 1990s, she became a member of the University’s Carillon Circle when she decided to give to UD as part of her estate. “We’re not here because our kids or our grandkids went here,” O’Leary explained. “We’re here because we care.”
Over the years, O’Leary (the only Delawarean inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame after more than 50 years of service) has provided academic scholarships for University students as well as given graciously to various areas of UD such as the Athletics Department, the Department of Theatre and, most recently, the School of Education.
Further down the lawn in a tent filled with music from a jazz quartet, alumnus Dale King, Class of 1984, and Barbara King, Class of 1992, chatted about what inspired them to reconnect with their alma mater. The Double Dels chose to get involved when their daughter, sophomore Carolyn King, became a student last year.
“I didn’t participate the first time, but I wasn’t going to allow that to happen this time,” Dale said, explaining how he regretted commuting during his college experience in the 1980s and not taking advantage of all UD had to offer. With both Carolyn on campus as an undergraduate and their son pursuing his MBA, the Kings joined the Parents Fund Council where they not only support UD financially, but serve as positive ambassadors and volunteers to the University.
“It’s a way to reconnect with the University and give back,” Dale said. “We also wanted our children’s voice to be heard,” Barbara added.
Harker thanked guests for attending the brunch and assured them that he’d still be serving Delaware, just in a different role as president and chief executive officer of the Philadelphia Federal Reserve. “I hope you will stay connected, stay supportive and never stop making UD better — as alumni, as parents, friends — whatever your tie … you are UD and you’ll always be home when you are here.”
About the Office of Development and Alumni Relations
The Office of Development and Alumni Relations (DAR) engages donors, alumni, friends, parents, faculty, staff and students in a lifelong relationship and fosters a tradition of philanthropy to strengthen the University’s legacy as one of the great public institutions of higher education in America.
Photos by Mark Campbell