The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Board of Trustees has presented its highest honor, the William Richardson Davie Award, to three alumni in recognition of their “dedication, commitment, loyalty and service.”
During a dinner on Wednesday, Nov. 18, at the Carolina Inn, Chancellor Carol L. Folt and the trustees honored Lucius E. Burch, III of Nashville, Tennessee; Betty Ray McCain of Wilson, North Carolina; and Roy H. Park, Jr. of Ithaca, New York. Burch and McCain have degrees from the College of Arts and Sciences.
Established by the Trustees in 1984, the Davie Award is named for the Revolutionary War hero who is considered the father of UNC-Chapel Hill. It recognizes extraordinary service to the University or society.
Lucius E. Burch, III, chairman and CEO of Burch Investment Group, has enjoyed a nearly 50-year career in venture capital, specializing in management consulting, corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions. After earning a degree in English from Carolina in 1963, Burch began his career at Morgan Guaranty Trust Company, and in 1968 joined Massey Investment Company, predecessor to Massey Burch Investment Group.
Burch has served on various boards at Carolina, including the UNC Board of Visitors. His generous support to the University has resulted in two signature programs that bear his name: the Lucius E. Burch III Fellows Program, which supports self-designed off-campus experiences for students to pursue a passionate interest more broadly than would otherwise be possible; and the Lucius E. Burch III Field Research Seminars, which offer faculty-led field research seminars across many disciplines to varied destinations both domestic and international.
Betty Ray McCain, who grew up in Faison, in Duplin County, is a pioneer for women in North Carolina politics. She graduated from Carolina in 1952 with a degree in music and earned a master’s in the same field from Columbia University. After moving to Wilson in 1956, she began a career in politics, working on Terry Sanford’s 1960 gubernatorial campaign.
McCain went on to chair the North Carolina Democratic Party from 1976 to 1979 and has been on its executive committee since 1971. She served as secretary of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources from 1993 to 2001.
McCain chairs the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center (LCCC) Board of Visitors, and has generously supported the University’s Medical Foundation, LCCC and the University Library.
Roy H. Park, Jr. is president and chairman of Park Outdoor Advertising in Ithaca, New York, and a 1961 Carolina journalism graduate. After earning an M.B.A. from Cornell University in 1963, Park began an advertising career that has spanned more than 40 years. He joined Park Communications, his father’s multimedia empire, in 1971 and served in multiple leadership roles for more than a decade before acquiring Park Outdoor Advertising in 1984.
Park is president of the Triad Foundation, which pursues several philanthropic objectives while honoring the legacy of his father, a self-made entrepreneur who founded the Duncan Hines food group and Park Communications. His children, Carolina graduates Elizabeth Park Fowler and Roy H.“Trip” Park, III, serve as the foundation’s treasurer and secretary, respectively.
Since 1997, the Park family has funded the merit-based Roy H. Park Fellowships, providing financial support to graduate students at the UNC School of Media and Journalism. Park serves on the Board of Advisers for the School of Media and Journalism. He is a 2011 N.C. Advertising Hall of Fame inductee and a 2005 UNC Distinguished Alumnus Award recipient.
