A St. Lawrence Hall of Fame

By Neal Burdick

In its 150-year history, St. Lawrence has graduated many people who attained high levels of success and recognition in fields ranging from business to acting, politics to song-writing. A sample (with year of graduation in parentheses):

Olympia Brown 1863

Olympia Brown (1863, Theological School): Later ordained as a Universalist minister, the first woman to be ordained in any denomination in America. She became a well-known leader in the women’s suffrage movement.

John S. Miller (1869): Prominent Chicago lawyer, counsel to corporations including Standard Oil.

Judge Ledyard P. Hale (1876): St. Lawrence County DA, county judge, counsel to the state Public Service Commission, president of the St. Lawrence Board of Trustees.

Herbert Gunnison (1880): Publisher of the Brooklyn Eagle and confidante of authors such as Irving Bacheller.

Owen D. Young 1894

Owen D. Young (1894): Headed General Electric (GE), founded the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), authored the Young Plan for European reparations after World War I, and was asked to consider the Democratic nomination for President in 1932, deferring to his good friend Franklin D. Roosevelt. 

J. Kimball “Kim” Gannon (1924): A renowned song lyricist, penning such songs as the beloved “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” and “Moonlight Cocktail.”  As a student, he co-wrote St. Lawrence’s alma mater.

Jeffrey W. Campbell (1933): St. Lawrence’s first known African-American graduate, civil rights lawyer and candidate for Congress.

Hal Schumacher 1933

“Prince Hal” Schumacher (1933): He signed as a pitcher with the New York Giants while still a student, and enjoyed a long and stellar career with them. The team came to Canton for his graduation and played an exhibition game against the St. Lawrence squad.

Kirk Douglas (1939): Wrestler and student government leader on campus (when his name was Isadore Demsky) who went on to a distinguished career as a stage and movie actor, film producer and author.

Alfred C. Viebranz (1942): Senior vice president of GTE Corporation, art archivist and writer.

Paul D. Parkman (1954): A developer of the rubella (German measles) vaccine.

Kirk Douglas 1939

Brian McFarlane (1955): A record-setting hockey player in college, he went on to a long career as anchor of “Hockey Night in Canada” and an NHL historian and author.

P. Michael Pitfield (1956): Held several prominent positions in Canadian national government, including Senator, Clerk of the Privy Council (considered second in importance to the Prime Minister) and Secretary to the Cabinet

William A. Torrey Sr. (1957): A top executive with several National Hockey League organizations, introducing professional hockey to South Florida when he was with the expansion Florida Panthers. He is in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Charles “CB” Vaughan (1964): A top-flight skier in college, who once held the downhill speed record, he founded the sportswear company C.B. Sports, Inc.

Brian McFarlane 1955

Karen R. Hitchcock (1964: Noted scholar, was president of SUNY Albany for several years, now principal (the equivalent of president) and vice-chancellor at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont.

Richard E. Hecklinger (1965): Former U.S. Ambassador to Thailand, current U.S. Ambassador to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris.

Michael E. Keenan (1972): Head coach of several NHL teams, leading both the Philadelphia Flyers and the New York Rangers to Stanley Cup titles; current general manager of the Florida Panthers, whose head coach is his college teammate, Jacques Martin.

Karen Hitchcock 1964

Wayne B. Morgan (1973): After a long tenure as an assistant men’s basketball coach under Jim Boeheim at Syracuse University, now head coach at Iowa State University.

David T. Jennings (1974): All-Pro punter for the New York Giants of the National Football League, now a radio announcer for the New York Jets.

Susan M. Collins (1975): United States Senator (R-ME), having been reelected in 2002. She chairs the Senate’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which has jurisdiction over the Department of Homeland Security and is the Senate’s chief oversight committee.

Jacques N. Martin (1975): NHL head coach, principally with the Ottawa Senators and currently with the Florida Panthers, where his boss is his college teammate, General Manager Michael E. Keenan ’72, and an assistant coach of the Gold-Medal winning Canadian men’s hockey team at the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Michael E. Keenan 1972

Tracey S. McNamara (1976): Research scientist who played a key role in identifying the West Nile virus and tracing its pathology. 

Betsy J. Bernard (1977): Has held top-level executive positions with several communications companies, including AT&T.

James W. “Jay” Ireland (1977): President of NBC Universal Television Stations.

Jeffrey H. Boyd (1978): President and chief executive officer of Priceline.com and a University trustee.

David T. Jennings 1974

Marie “Lorrie” Moore (1978): One of America’s leading fiction writers and the winner of numerous awards, including the 2005 PEN/Malamud Award. She is a professor of writing at the University of Wisconsin.

Derrick H. Pitts (1978): Vice president and chief astronomer at the Franklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia and frequent commentator in the national news media on astronomy-related topics; a St. Lawrence trustee.

John P. Loughlin (1979): Executive vice president and general manager of Hearst Magazines, and a St. Lawrence trustee.

Carlos J. Garcia (1982): An official with the New York State Education Department, dealing with diversity issues.

Tracey S. McNamara 1976

Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton (1991, master’s degree 1994): Teacher, author and humanitarian whose work in his native Kenya resulted in his being the youngest person in that nation’s history to be given its Order of the Grand Warrior.

Elinor R. Tatum (1993): Publisher and editor-in-chief of New York City’s Amsterdam News, the nation’s oldest continuously Black-owned newspaper.

                                

 

And From Closer to Home…

Jeffery H. Boyd 1978

Many of St. Lawrence’s most notable graduates were natives of the North Country, from which St. Lawrence throughout its history has drawn some of its best students and most distinguished alumni.  Among them:

James Ricalton: A Waddington native, he attended St. Lawrence University during the Civil War years.  He became a world-renowned photojournalist, naturalist, war correspondent and author, and worked with Thomas Edison on several projects in connection with the development of the incandescent lamp and motion picture camera.

Leffert Lefferts Buck (1863): A Canton native, he was considered during his lifetime “the first living authority on suspension bridges.” Two of the bridges he designed and built, including New York City’s Williamsburg Bridge, were the longest of their type in the world when they were built.

Marie "Lorrie" Moore 1978

Sarah E. Sprague (1866): A Gouverneur native and one of the University’s first two women graduates, she wrote Rand McNally’s “Primer and First Reader” and “Second Reader” and lent her name to the famous Sprague Classic Readers for elementary students. 

Alexander O. Brodie (1867): From Edwards, he was a Cavalry officer at Fort Apache, Arizona Territory; recruited a regiment that became his friend Theodore Roosevelt’s famous Rough Riders (he succeeded Roosevelt as commander of the unit); and was Governor of Arizona Territory, 1902-05.

Frederic S. Lee (1878): The son of St. Lawrence’s first on-site president, John Stebbins Lee, he was president of the American Physiological Society and founding editor of its American Journal of Physiology.

Lucia E. Heaton (1879): The Canton native returned to her hometown as a doctor. Historians say she was the first woman doctor in St. Lawrence County and probably in New York State.

Derek H. Pitts 1978

John L. Heaton (1880): Born on a farm near Canton, he went on to become editor-in-chief of his friend Joseph Pulitzer’s newspaper The New York World, whose paper was manufactured in Pyrites. He was also a founder of Columbia University’s Pulitzer School of Journalism Advisory Board, and a Pulitzer Prize judge.

Irving Bacheller (1882): He pioneered the idea of newspaper syndication and wrote the first best-seller of the 20th century, Eben Holden, based on his memories of growing up in the Canton/Pierrepont vicinity. The Bacheller Memorial Chime, heard weekdays at 5 p.m. when classes are in session, was his gift to St. Lawrence in memory of his wife.

Holton D. Robinson (1886): Born in Massena, he invented stronger suspension bridge cable, and built such famous spans as the Manhattan Bridge, the San Francisco Bay Bridge, the Thousand Islands Bridge and the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario.

Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton 1991

Grace P. Lynde (1893): An Antwerp native who became vice president of Canton’s First National Bank, one of a handful of women to hold such a rank in her day.

Charles S. Sheard (1903): Canton native who founded Ohio State University's graduate program in optometry and the Mayo Clinic’s division of physics and biophysical research, believed to be the first such program of its kind in the U.S.

Leila Forbes Clark (1908): Canton native considered in her lifetime the foremost authority in America on butterflies.

Phyllis Forbes Clark (1912): Canton native who helped establish the North Country Library System and was an original trustee of the North Country Library Association.

Olive Mason Gunnison (1912): Canton native who invented the bottle garden and originated and promoted the “Victory Gardens” that Americans cultivated in two world wars.

Irving Bacheller 1882

Albert P. Crary (1931): He grew up in the Pierrepont/Crary Mills area. Known as "The Unfreezable Man," he was a renowned polar explorer and the first person to set foot on both the North and South Poles. 

Ernest M. Benedict (1940): A chief of the Mohawk nation at Akwesasne and a noted educator, helping found the North American Indian Traveling College.

Ronald B. Stafford (1957): A Plattsburgh-area native, long-time New York State Senator, Deputy Majority Leader and chair of the Senate’s Finance and Higher Education Committees; he was instrumental in bringing the 1980 Winter Olympics to Lake Placid and played a critical role in the creation of the state’s Tuition Assistance Program (TAP).

Ronald B. Stafford 1957

Donald K. Rose (1964): Raised on a farm near Harrisville, he was a major figure in the development of the silicon chip and microprocessor, on which modern-day computers depend. He is a St. Lawrence trustee.

Viggo P. Mortensen (1980): A Watertown High School graduate, he is an artist, poet and movie actor who has appeared in several films, most notably The Lord of the Rings series and Hidalgo.

Jo Ann Campbell (1986): A Prescott, Ont., native who has worked all over the world as a high-level executive with General Electric, currently vice president and chief financial officer at Kodak Health Imaging in Rochester, N.Y., and vice chair of the St. Lawrence Board of Trustees.

Gregory J. Carvel (1993): Canton native and outstanding student-athlete at St. Lawrence, now an assistant coach with the Ottawa Senators of the NHL.

 

Donald Rose 1964	Viggo Mortensen 1980	Jo Ann Campbell 1986