Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni

2004 Rutgers University Hall of Distinguished Alumni: Yash Dalal, Edward (Eddie) Jordan, Richard L. McCormick, Arnold Hyndman, Clifton LacyIn 1987, the Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni (HDA) was created to recognize alumni who, through their remarkable achievements in professional and civic life, have brought honor to themselves and the university. The Rutgers University Alumni Association (RUAA) honors their achievements at the annual Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni Awards. Browse through the complete online directory of past honorees.

Pictured at right, at the Rutgers University HDA dinner, May 1, 2004: Livingston Alumni Association President Yash V. Dalal (LC’92), inductee Edward M. Jordan, Rutgers University President Richard L. McCormick, Livingston College Dean Arnold G. Hyndman and inductee Clifton R. Lacy.

The following Livingston College alumni have been named to the Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni: 


1993 Inductee
AVERY F. BROOKS 
(LC’73, MGSA’76)
2004 Inductee
EDWARD M. JORDAN
(SMLR’15)
2004 Inductee
CLIFTON R. LACY
(LC’75, RWJMS’79)
Avery F. Brooks Edward M. Jordan Clifton R. Lacy
Actor; Director; Singer;
Professor, Mason Gross School of the Arts
Rutgers Men’s Basketball Head Coach (2013-2016) and Player (1973-1977)
(Originally scheduled to graduate from LC in 1977)
Medical Leader;
New Jersey State Health Commissioner

2010 Inductee
GREGORY Q. BROWN
 (LC’82)
2014 Inductee
HARVEY M. SCHWARTZ
(LC’87)
Gregory Q. Brown Harvey M. Schwartz
Rutgers Board of Governors Chair;
Business Leader
(Hosted the 2013 HDA celebration)
Rutgers Board of Governors Member; Business Leader



Distinguished Alumnus Avery Brooks, LC’73, ‘Star Trek’ and ‘Spenser’ Actor, Is Dedicated to African-American Issues

Avery Brooks, 2006Actor, director and singer Avery Brooks, a tenured professor of Theater Arts at Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts (MGSA), is best known to TV audiences for his roles as Commodore/Captain Benjamin Lafayette Sisko on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Hawk on Spenser: For Hire and its spinoff, A Man Called Hawk.

In 2006, the Livingston Alumni Association of Rutgers University honored Brooks as a Livingston College Distinguished Alumnus. Brooks graduated from Livingston College in 1973, and in 1976 earned a master of fine arts (MFA) degree from MGSA, the first African-American to earn a Rutgers MFA in acting and directing. Brooks appeared in plays presented at Livingston College, including Short Eyes and Streamers. He also served as the script coordinator for Livingston Theatre’s Dark Symphony.

In 1993, Rutgers University named Brooks to its Hall of Distinguished Alumni.

Avery Brooks at Livingston College 1992 CommencementKnown for his dedication to African-American issues, Brooks has served as artistic director for the National Black Arts Festival.

At various times since 1988 he has portrayed Paul Robeson (Rutgers College, 1919), the famous singer, actor and civil rights activist, in the plays Paul Robeson and Are You Now or Have You Ever Been?, both on and off-Broadway.

In a 1997 interview at Oberlin College, Brooks, paraphrasing Frederick Douglass, said: “I will keep telling this story as long as I have breath. … [Robeson was] a man who had a great heart, great courage, enormous intellect, and deep caring for humankind.”

Brooks has worked extensively with the Smithsonian Institution’s program in African-American culture. He was nominated for an American Cable Entertainment Award for his performance in Showtime’s TV production of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. He has performed with the Shakespeare Theatre Company, and he sang the title role in the American Musical Theater Festival production of the Anthony Davis opera X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X.

His movies include the 1998 Academy Award-nominated American History X, and the 2001 action film 15 Minutes, which co-starred Robert De Niro.

Brooks has hosted several documentaries and served as narrator in such features as the IMAX film Africa’s Elephant Kingdom.

In 2009 Brooks released the album Here, featuring jazz and blues covers, as well as spoken word tracks.

Brooks was born October 2, 1948, in Evansville, Indiana.

He is married to Vicki Lenora Brooks, who has served as an assistant dean at Rutgers. They live in Princeton, New Jersey, and have three adult children.

Watch the LAA’s video tribute to Avery Brooks (1 minute, 28 seconds), embedded on this page, or open in a new window.

Photos: (Top) Avery Brooks at the 2006 Livingston College Distinguished Alumni Awards; (Bottom) Speaking at the 1992 Livingston College commencement, from the yearbook, A Style of Our Own.




Distinguished Alumnus Clifton Lacy, LC’75, Leads Rutgers’ Institute for Emergency Preparedness and Homeland Security

Clifton R. LacyClifton R. Lacy (MD, FACC, FACP), honored in 2000 as one of the first four Livingston College Distinguished Alumni, is the Director of Rutgers’ Institute for Emergency Preparedness and Homeland Security (IEPHS).

He also has directed the University Center for Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Response (UCDPER). In 2004 he was inducted into the Rutgers University Hall of Distinguished Alumni.

Dr. Lacy, a 1975 graduate of Livingston College at Rutgers University and a 1979 graduate of Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (now part of Rutgers), has a long and distinguished career in medical leadership.

He previously served as president of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH), and also as Senior Vice President for Medical Affairs and Chief of Staff at RWJUH. He also is a former New Jersey state Health Commissioner.

Clifton R. Lacy (Livingston College yearbook photo)

At the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ), he served as Senior Vice President and earlier as Chief of Cardiovascular Diseases and Hypertension. He is widely published in the field of cardiovascular diseases and is an active research investigator in national and international clinical trials. Lacy has served on several national, regional, and local clinical and scientific committees and advisory boards, including the National Institutes of Health, the American College of Cardiology, and the American Heart Association.

Photos: Top, courtesy of the Rutgers Institute for Emergency Preparedness and Homeland Security. Bottom: Lacy as pictured in the Livingston College yearbook, We the People.




Harvey Schwartz (LC’87), a Leader in Finance, Began His Career at Wall Street Low Point; Named to Rutgers’ Hall of Distinguished Alumni in 2014

Harvey M. SchwartzHarvey M. Schwartz, Chief Executive Officer and member of the board of directors at Carlyle as of 2023, graduated from Rutgers’ Livingston College in 1987. It was an inauspicious time.

Schwartz “learned early in his career about tough times on Wall Street,” Bloomberg News wrote in a 2012 profile of Schwartz. He began his career in 1987 on the trading floor of J.B. Hanauer & Co. shortly before the “Black Monday” stock market crash on October 19, 1987, according to the same profile.

In 2014, Rutgers University named Schwartz, a native of Morris Township, New Jersey, to its Hall of Distinguished Alumni (HDA) in honor of his business successes and generosity to Rutgers.

In 2023, Rutgers Business School bestowed upon Schwartz its Honorary Business Excellence Award. Also as of 2023, he is serving as a member of Rutgers University’s Board of Governors, through 2028.

Schwartz went on to work at First Interregional Equity Corp., Citicorp Securities and Summit Equities before joining the multinational financial services company Goldman Sachs, according to a Business Insider biography. He earned his executive master of business administration degree from Columbia University in 1996.

In 1997 Schwartz joined J. Aron, Goldman Sachs’ currency and commodity trading unit, as a vice president. He rose to Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in 2013, and continued in that role until April 2017.

Starting in 2017, Schwartz and David Solomon both served as President and Co-COO at Goldman Sachs. They succeeded Gary Cohn, who left Goldman Sachs for a position in the administration of President Donald Trump.

Prior to assuming the CFO role in 2013, Schwartz was Goldman Sachs’ Global Co-Head of the Securities Division since 2008. From 2007 to early 2008, he was Global Head of Securities Division Sales, from 2005 to 2007 he was Head of North America Sales, and from 2004 to late 2005 he was Co-Head of the Americas Financing Group within Investment Banking. He was named Managing Director in 1999 and Partner in 2002. He is a member of the Goldman Sachs Management Committee and serves as Co-Chair of the firm’s Risk Committee and Finance Committee.

Schwartz received financial aid from Rutgers to complete his bachelor’s degree and dedicates his time and financial support to help support current students in their academic endeavors, according to his Rutgers HDA profile.  Among his many philanthropic efforts, he endowed a $1 million scholarship through Goldman Gives to annually pay tuition and fees for four full-time School of Arts and Sciences undergraduate students.

Schwartz has served on the Rutgers University Foundation’s Board of Overseers and the School of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Advisory Council. He also has served as chair of Rutgers’ Wall Street Leadership Committee, in which he has been a vigorous advocate of student mentoring and recruiting efforts through the Rutgers on Wall Street Initiative. He has championed an effort to provide financial support to students pursuing a career in the finance sector and helps to connect students with alumni executives.

He told Rutgers Magazine in 2014 that he was an indifferent student in high school, but that Rutgers “dramatically changed” him. “Mathematics, with the overlay of social and behavioral dynamics, immediately hooked me,” he said. “It’s where I learned to love learning.” He worked multiple jobs to put himself through college, and as a junior and senior, he served as a resident assistant at Rutgers.

On Saturday, May 3, 2014, the Rutgers University Alumni Association inducted Schwartz and four other alumni into the HDA:

  • Joseph G. DiPietro, RC’84, two-time Tony Award-winning playwright and lyricist.
  • Sheri McCoy, RBS’88, chief executive officer and director of Avon Products, Inc.
  • Daniel C. Reda, Ph.D., ENG’65, GSNB’67, ’69, mechanical engineer and recipient of the NASA Distinguished Service Medal.
  • Rosemarie T. Truglio, DC’83, senior vice president of curriculum and content at Sesame Workshop.

Induction into the Rutgers HDA is the highest award Rutgers bestows upon its alumni. The award recognizes alumni who, through their remarkable achievements in professional and civic life, have brought honor to themselves and the university.

Rutgers previously inducted four other Livingston College alumni into the HDA: Avery F. Brooks in 1993, Edward M. Jordan and Clifton R. Lacy in 2004, and Gregory Q. Brown in 2010.




Distinguished Alumnus Eddie Jordan Led Rutgers Basketball to ’76 Final Four, Has Served for 30+ Years as College and Pro Coach

 

Eddie JordanEddie Jordan, named in 2011 as a Livingston College Distinguished Alumnus, has led basketball teams on the court, and he’s been a coach for more than 30 years.

As of 2019 he is an assistant coach with the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets.

His careers as both a college player and a college coach began at Rutgers. He returned to Rutgers as the head coach of men’s basketball from 2013 to 2016.

Jordan attended Rutgers University’s Livingston College from 1973 to 1977 but didn’t graduate at that time. He completed his bachelor’s studies at Rutgers in 2015, with a degree from the School of Management and Labor Relations.

Rutgers University also has honored Jordan with induction into both the Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Hall of Distinguished Alumni in 2004.

When Jordan took to the basketball court in the 1970s, the College Avenue Gym shook with cheers of “Eddie, Eddie,” sparking a wave of enthusiasm and school spirit that captivated the state.

He responded in spectacular fashion, scoring 1,632 points and setting all-time Rutgers records with 585 assists and 220 steals. He led the 1975–76 undefeated basketball team to the NCAA Final Four. (See articles from Rutgers Athletics and from . In May 2016, NJ Advance Media, publisher of The Star-Ledgerplaced Jordan at number 17 in its list of “the 50 greatest athletes in Rutgers history.”)

He was drafted into the NBA in 1977 by the Cleveland Cavaliers and acquired by the New Jersey Nets midway through his rookie year. As a Net, he led the league in total steals in 1978–79 and was second in total steals in 1979–80.

He joined the Los Angeles Lakers in 1980, and earned a place on the 1982 World Championship squad. In his seven-year career, he averaged 8.1 points, 3.8 assists, and steals per game.

His coaching career began at Rutgers and included a number of positions in both collegiate and professional basketball. He spent four years as lead assistant coach of the Nets, guiding them to consecutive Eastern Conference championships in 2002 and 2003.

In 2003, the Washington Wizards named Jordan head coach, a position he held through 2008. Jordan led the Wizards to four straight playoff appearances, which includes the team’s first postseason series win since 1982.

Jordan returned to Rutgers in 2013 with an NBA Championship ring and with 28 seasons of coaching experience, including eight at the collegiate level and 19 in the NBA. His first day as head coach was documented in the video on this page (or open the video in a new window.)

At the same time, “Quietly, amid all of the noise about the controversial hiring of his new boss, athletic director Julie Hermann, men’s basketball coach Eddie Jordan was focused on his own tasks,” including studying to finish his bachelor’s degree he started to earn in 1973 at Rutgers’ Livingston College, ESPN’s Andy Katz reported.

Jordan eventually earned his bachelor’s degree in 2015.

<!--Jordan accepted the Livingston College Distinguished Alumni Award at a celebration on May 14, 2011. The LAA also named Gregory Q. Brown, LC'82, as a Distinguished Alumnus in 2011. -->




Distinguished Alumnus and Loyal Son Greg Brown, LC’82, Is a Leader on Rutgers’ Board of Governors

Gregory Brown and Michael BeachemGregory Q. Brown, LC’82, named as a Distinguished Alumnus of both Livingston College and Rutgers University, is a member of Rutgers’ Board of Governors as of 2021, and previously served as Chairman of the Board of Governors.

In 2011, the Livingston Alumni Association (LAA) of Rutgers University named Brown as a Distinguished Alumnus. He had been inducted into Rutgers’ Hall of Distinguished Alumni in 2010.

Additionally, in 2016 Brown was honored by the Rutgers Alumni Association as a Loyal Son of Rutgers.

Brown is chairman and chief executive officer of Motorola Solutions, Inc. Brown joined Motorola in 2003 and was elected to the company’s board of directors in 2007. He became president and CEO of Motorola in January 2008. 

He has been a loyal supporter of Rutgers University in many ways. In addition to his service on the Board of Governors, his contributions to the university include:

  • Chair of the Presidential Search Committee, which ended with the appointment of Robert L. Barchi as Rutgers’ 20th president, effective September 1, 2012.
  • Serving as keynote speaker at the University’s 2012 Commencement, at which he was named the recipient of an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree.
  • Hosting the 2013 Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni Awards Gala.
  • Donating $2.5 million toward construction of the Brown Football Recruiting Lounge and Welcome Center at SHI Stadium (formerly Rutgers Stadium) in Piscataway.
  • Serving as a former member of Rutgers’ Board of Trustees and Board of Overseers.
  • He and his wife, Anna, in 2020 committed $1 million in support of Rutgers’ Scarlet Promise Grants.

At Livingston College, Brown earned a bachelor’s degree in economics in 1982. Brown is an active member of the civic and business communities. He is a member of the Business Council, Business Roundtable, Technology CEO Council, Commercial Club of Chicago and the Northwestern Memorial Hospital board. He is also on the executive committee of the US-China Business Council (USCBC) and is a member of the CEO Forum.

Before becoming CEO of Motorola, he headed four different businesses at the company, including the government and public safety, networks, enterprise and automotive businesses. Brown also led the $3.9 billion acquisition of Symbol Technologies, the second-largest transaction in Motorola’s history and an important strategic move to strengthen Motorola’s Enterprise Mobility business. 

Prior to joining Motorola, he was chairman and CEO of Micromuse Inc., a publicly traded network management software company. Before that, he was president of Ameritech Custom Business Services and Ameritech New Media Inc. Prior to joining Ameritech in 1987, Brown held a variety of sales and marketing positions with AT&T.

Photo and video: Livingston Alumni Association President Michael Beachem (at right in photo) presents the Livingston College Distinguished Alumni Award to Gregory Q. Brown on Dec. 14, 2011, at Winants Hall, on Rutgers’ College Avenue campus in New Brunswick. (Or open the video in a new window.)