The University’s Board of Trustees has presented its highest honor, the William Richardson Davie Award, to four alumni in recognition of their “dedication, commitment, loyalty and service.”
During a dinner on Wednesday (Nov. 20) at the Carolina Inn, Chancellor Carol Folt and the trustees honored David Gardner Frey (B.A. 1964, J.D. 1967) of Grand Rapids, Mich.; Karol Virginia Mason (B.A. 1979) of Washington, D.C.; Hugh A. “Chip” McAllister Jr. (M.D. 1966) of Houston, Texas; and Roger Lee Perry Sr. (B.A. 1971) of Chapel Hill.
Established by the Board of Trustees in 1984, the Davie Award is named for the Revolutionary War hero who is considered the father of the University. It recognizes extraordinary service to the University or society.
Frey
Frey (B.A. English 1964, J.D. 1967) served in the U.S. Navy and followed his father and grandfather into a career in commercial banking, beginning with Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company in New York and Union Bank & Trust Company, started by his grandfather in 1918 (now JP Morgan Chase).
A generous, tireless civic leader, he has promoted higher education and economic development in the metropolitan Grand Rapids area, helping raise millions using a public/private partnership model that is revitalizing downtown for a new generation of urban dynamism. His skills as a fundraiser have also benefited his alma mater through leadership on key boards, cabinets and committees, including the Board of Directors of the Arts and Sciences Foundation.
A recipient of the General Alumni Association Distinguished Service Medal, he is a staunch patron of the arts in Grand Rapids and at Carolina, among other areas, both individually and through his family foundation.
Mason
Mason’s (B.A. mathematics 1979) commitment to outreach and excellence began when she was an undergraduate at Carolina with her induction into the Order of the Golden Fleece, the Order of the Old Well and the Order of the Valkyries.
After graduation from the University of Michigan Law School, she joined the international legal firm of Alston & Bird in Atlanta and became the first African-American woman to achieve partner status in a major Atlanta law practice.
She has twice answered President Barack Obama’s call to service: as justice department deputy associate attorney general from 2009 to 2012 and currently as assistant attorney general for the Office of Justice Programs.
Her many commitments to leadership at her alma mater include two terms on the Board of Trustees as well as service on the Board of Visitors. Mason’s many honors include the Distinguished Service Medal from the General Alumni Association.
McAllister
McAllister and his father are the only father and son to serve as presidents of the UNC Medical Alumni Association and earn the Distinguished Medical Alumni Award.
McAllister began his career with the U.S. Army at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and went on to serve as chair of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology Department of Cardiovascular Pathology from 1971 to 1984. McAllister retired as an Army colonel and became founding chair of the Department of Pathology at the Texas Heart Institute in Houston, retiring in 2000.
McAllister made the largest single gift from a UNC medical school alumnus to the school, and in 2009 the UNC McAllister Heart Institute was created in his honor. He also made the University’s largest single gift of art: nearly 150 works – many of which will be retained as a permanent collection and displayed at the Ackland Art Museum.
Perry
Perry (B.A. political science 1971) developed Woodcroft, an 800-acre community in Durham, and in 1985 established East West Partners of North Carolina, a mixed-use residential and commercial development company that has developed more residential land than any other company in the state.
At Carolina, he served two terms on the Board of Trustees – one as chair – and has held key leadership positions on numerous University boards, cabinets and committees, including fundraising chair for the $9 million renovation of Finley Golf Course, the Institute for the Arts and Humanities Advisory Board, the UNC Health Care System Board of Directors and the UNC-Chapel Hill Foundation Board.
His support to Carolina has benefited numerous areas, ranging from the performing arts to the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. Perry’s dedication to his alma mater earned him the Distinguished Service Medal from the General Alumni Association.
