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The University of Akron Alumni Association will honor several distinguished alumni for their professional and civic contributions during the annual Alumni Day festivities on May 31 in the Student Union, Ballroom.
The event will begin with a 5 p.m. reception, followed by dinner and a program; beginning at 6 p.m. Tickets are $55 per person. Black tie is optional. To order tickets, contact the Alumni Association at ext. 7270, or alumni@uakron.edu .
The 2003 “A-Day” honorees are Judge Randolph Baxter, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of Ohio; Ann Amer Brennan, retired partner, Amer Cunningham & Brennan; Ann Lane Gates, retired community relations and legislative affairs officer, Akron Public Schools; and William A. Scala, president, Kenmore Construction Co.
The Alumni Association also will present Honorary Alumni Awards recognizing service to the University as well as distinctive service to national, state or local communities. Honorary Alumni Award recipients are R. Cary Blair, chairman and chief executive officer of the Westfield Group; and W.R. “Tim” Timken Jr., chairman of The Timken Company.
The University of Akron also will honor Board of Trustees Chairman Dr. Mark N. Apte, whose nine-year term ends this summer.
Since 1985, Judge Randolph Baxter has served on the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of Ohio. He also is a charter member of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Bankruptcy Appellate Panel and an adjunct professor at The University of Akron.
Baxter earned an undergraduate degree in political science at Tuskegee University in 1967 and a law degree at The University of Akron in 1974.
In addition to his responsibilities on the bench, Baxter has authored numerous judicial opinions. He also serves on the boards of various public and private institutions including Leadership Cleveland and the Cleveland Council on World Affairs.
Ann Amer Brennan earned a bachelor’s degree in education in 1956 and a law degree at The University of Akron School of Law in 1982. Brennan taught social studies at Thornton Junior High School, then later became an associate at Amer Cunningham & Brennan, specializing in probate law. She retired from the firm in 1986.
Brennan has served on the boards of the Ohio Ballet, Weathervane Theatre, National Invention Center, Inventors Hall of Fame, Akron Symphony, Akron Civic Theatre, Akron Visitors and Convention Center, Hiram College, Summit Education Initiative and Akron Tomorrow.
In 2002, Ohio Gov. Bob Taft appointed Brennan to the Biomedical Research and Technology Transfer Commission — the same year that Northern Ohio Live magazine named her one of the most “Influential Women in Northeast Ohio.”
Ann Lane Gates began her career as a substitute teacher with the Akron Public Schools in 1951. In 1961, she began working at the district’s central administration offices as a resource teacher and special services administrator. Later, she served as assistant to the superintendent.
Gates earned a master’s degree in education at The University of Akron in 1972.
During her tenure with the Akron Public Schools, Gates focused on the educational needs of the disadvantaged by directing the Youth Tutor Corps, supervising the Head Start Prekindergarten Program, Neighborhood Youth Corps, Adult Basic Education, Evening High School Scholarship Program, Lane South Community School and the Supervised Study Program. At her retirement in 1999, Gates was the community relations and legislative affairs officer for the schools.
Gates belongs to 60 community boards and organizations — including several for which she was a charter member, first female or first African-American member. In 2002, she received the Governor’s Award for the Arts in Ohio and the YMCA’s 100 Women of Distinction Award.
William Scala earned a bachelor of arts degree in accounting at The University of Akron in 1975. Kenmore Construction, founded by Scala’s father in 1956, has grown from a handful of employees to a qualified contractor for the state of Ohio with projects ranging from public utilities and municipalities to state, federal and the private sectors.
The company is actively involved in the University’s New Landscape For Learning campus enhancement program.
Scala serves on the Zips Athletic Club Advancement Council and the College of Business Administration Advancement Council, and he is a member of the Greater Akron Chamber of Commerce. In 2001 he received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Archbishop Hoban High School in Akron.
R. Cary Blair began his career in the insurance field as a management trainee with the Westfield Group in 1961. He rose through the ranks, becoming vice president in 1980. Blair was promoted to executive vice president and president in 1983 and 1986, respectively. In 1991 he was named president and CEO, and he has served as chairman and CEO since 1998.
Under Blair’s leadership, Westfield made a substantial pledge to the University to aid in the construction of the Medina County University Center.
Blair is a trustee for the Griffith Foundation for Insurance Education, the American Institute for Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters and the Insurance Institute of America.
A Canton native, W.R. “Tim” Timken Jr. first worked for the Timken Company in 1958. He has served as chairman of the company’s board of directors since 1975.
Timken is a member of the U.S.-Japan Business Council, the Council on Competitiveness, the Executive Committee of the Ohio Business Roundtable, the Stark County Development Board and the Pro Football Hall of Fame Board of Trustees.
He also is a trustee of the Manufacturing Institute and a past chairman of the National Association of Manufacturers.
Dr. Mark N. Apte, retiring chair of the University’s Board of Trustees, is completing the nine-year term to which he was appointed in 1994 by then-Gov. George Voinovich. Apte also is completing a term this year as a trustee of the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine.
Apte earned a medical degree at the University of Bombay in 1964 and was an associate professor of medicine when he came to the United States in 1968. After additional training, he started family practice in 1974. Apte currently is president of Family Medical Care Inc. in Tallmadge.
He is a former trustee of the Cleveland Music Circle, which promotes Indian classical music. He is vice chairman of the executive committee of the Summit County Republican Party and a member of its finance committee.
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