When he stepped down from the Corporation last year, former University President Neil L. Rudenstine described him as “a constant source of advice, support and friendship.”
He continues to serve as chair of the Committee on University Resources.
While at Harvard, Stone was captain of the world record-setting heavyweight crew team, and has served as a trustee of the National Rowing Foundation.
He concentrated in economics and graduated with the Class of 1947 after taking leave to serve in the U.S. Army during World War II. He became an executive in the shipping and energy industries, and served as chair of the General Energy Company, the West India Shipping Company and the Kirby Corporation.
Stone will receive a Doctor of Laws degree.
P. Roy Vagelos
P. Roy Vagelos is currently the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania. Vagelos served as the Chief Executive Officer of the pharmaceutical firm Merck & Co. from 1985 to 1994, where he became known for his leadership ability.
The executive formerly held positions in cellular physiology and biochemistry at the National Heart Institute, and was the chair of biological chemistry and director of the Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences at Washington University in Saint Louis. He has authored more than 100 scientific papers, specializing in studies of lipids and enzymes.
Vagelos was educated at the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University, but has received a number of honorary degrees from other institutions, including Brown University, Washington University and Princeton University.
Today he will receive a Doctor of Laws degree.
Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon
Ernesto Zedillo, who will address the Class of 2003 as Commencement speaker today, was president of Mexico from 1994 to 2000.
He helped Mexico make the transition from one-party rule, instituted political reforms, stabilized the nation’s economy and signed the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994.
The next year, he worked with University President Lawrence H. Summers, then undersecretary of the U.S. Treasury, to rescue the Mexican banking industry with a $20 billion U.S. loan.
When his term in office over, Zedillo oversaw the peaceful transfer of power to opposition candidate Vicente Fox after 71 years of single party rule.
Zedillo was born in Mexico City and graduated from the National Polytechnic Institute in Mexico.
He received a doctor in economics from Yale University in 1981 and is now a professor of international economics and politics there. He also directs the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization.
He will receive a Doctor of Laws degree.