Riepe chosen to head U. Trustees

Wharton alumnus James Riepe will succeed former chairperson Roy Vagelos. The University Board of Trustees named James Riepe, vice chairperson of the Baltimore-based T. Rowe Price investment firm and former head of the Trustees' Investment Board, as its new chairperson this past Friday at its annual summer meeting. Riepe, who will turn 56 tomorrow, graduated from the Wharton School in 1965 and earned a degree from the school's MBA program two years later. He was first elected to a five-year term as Alumni Trustee in 1990 and began serving another five-year term as a Term Trustee in 1995. The newly-elected Riepe replaces Roy Vagelos, former chief executive officer of the New Jersey-based Merck pharmaceutical and health care company, as chairperson of the Trustees. Vagelos, who had held the position since October 1994, stepped down several months shy of age 70, the required age of retirement for all Trustees. He was also named Emeritus Trustee at Friday's meeting. Riepe was both a member of the Trustees' Executive Committee and the chairperson of the Trustees' Audit and Compliance Committee at the time of his election. He previously had served as chairperson of the Alumni Council on Admissions and is currently a member of the Undergraduate Financial Aid Committee and the Agenda for Excellence Council. He was appointed last summer to head the Investment Board, which manages the University's endowment. He and his family have involved themselves in the University financially as well. In 1989, the James and Gail Riepe Scholarship Fund was created to assist undergraduate students in the Baltimore area. Trustee Richard Worley, a member of the Investment Board and the Audit and Finance Committee, was named Riepe's replacement as head of the Investment Board. Shortly before adjourning Friday's stated meeting of the Trustees, Riepe briefly addressed the other Trustees and University administrators in attendance, calling his election a "very humbling appointment." During his nearly five years as head of the Trustees, Vagelos has aggressively campaigned to increase the endowment for undergraduate financial aid, and, as evidence of his commitment to increasing research opportunities, pledged two $10 million donations to the University -- one to the creation of the Roy and Diana Vagelos Laboratories of the Institute for the Advancement of Science and Technology and the other to fund an undergraduate program in the molecular life sciences. University President Judith Rodin lauded Vagelos' accomplishments and noted that the former chairperson will not soon be forgotten. "Everywhere is your imprint and your legacy," Rodin told Vagelos at the meeting. And Rodin said Monday that it had been her "privilege to work side-by-side with Roy Vagelos these past five years." Trustee Gloria Chisum, who was re-elected Friday as the board's co-vice chairperson, told her fellow board members that she had "mixed emotions" while reading a resolution recognizing Vagelos' accomplishments and appointing him Emeritus Trustee. The resolution itself praised Vagelos for his "eagerness to ignite the spark of enthusiasm in others" and saluted him for his "legendary energy." "We know that it gives him genuine joy to walk around campus and know that what is going on in the classrooms, laboratories and libraries is improving both individual lives and society," the resolution reads. But Vagelos -- who called the meeting to order and addressed the board members and administrators first -- would not take credit for the University's recent success. "The University has done exceedingly well and the progress that it has made has made the rest of us look good," Vagelos said. In the ceremonial passing of the gavel, Vagelos and Riepe embraced before an approximately 20-second standing ovation. Other notable appointments finalized Friday include the recognition of former University President and current History Professor Sheldon Hackney -- whose portrait was also unveiled Friday in College Hall -- as President Emeritus. Hackney served as president of the University from 1981 to 1994 before leaving to head the National Endowment for the Humanities in Washington, D.C. U.S. Circuit Court Judge Marjorie Rendell was appointed chairperson of the Board of Overseers of the Nursing School; Jon Huntsman, a 1959 Wharton graduate and chief executive office of Huntsman Chemical Corporation, was named chairperson of the Board of Overseers of the Wharton School; and Christopher Browne, a general partner of the Tweedy, Browne Company investment firm, will act as chairperson of the Board of Overseers of the School of Arts and Sciences. In addition, Natalie Koether, a 1961 College and Wharton graduate, was elected Charter Trustee while Stephen Wynn, a 1963 College graduate, was re-elected a Term Trustee.