11-28-95 Five to Receive Commencement Honors FIVE TO RECEIVE SPECIAL COMMENCEMENT HONORS AT OHIO STATE COLUMBUS -- The achievements of two scientists, a philanthropist, a social worker, and a business executive will be recognized with special honors during The Ohio State University's autumn quarter commencement Dec. 8 in St. John Arena. The Joseph Sullivant Medal will be awarded to cancer researcher Thomas J. Dougherty of Buffalo, N.Y., who will deliver the commencement address. Honorary doctorates will be presented to scientist Daniel Hillel of Amherst, Mass., and philanthropist Jeanne Bonnet McCoy of Columbus. The Distinguished Service Award will be presented to business executive Charles Y. Lazarus and to social worker Colleen Clemens McMurray, both of Columbus. Thomas J. Dougherty, Joseph Sullivant Medal A 1959 Ph.D. graduate of Ohio State in physical-organic chemistry, Thomas J. Dougherty is internationally recognized as the originator and the foremost developer of the experimental aspects, theory and clinical utility of Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) for the treatment of cancer. After a highly productive research career in photochemistry with the DuPont Co. from 1959 to 1970, Dougherty joined the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, N.Y., as a research associate. There, he began an experimental program on the uses of the responses of chemicals to light for treatment of human diseases. His research has contributed to the development of new methods of cancer therapy that are being used along with traditional surgery, chemotherapy and X-ray radiation. Throughout the past 25 years of Dougherty's research, thousands of cancer patients in the United States, Japan, China, Canada, England, Central Europe and the Soviet Union have been treated with PDT methods. Some 100 hospitals have major clinical programs in photochemical oncology and many physicians are being trained to use laser-activated chemical oncology protocols. PDT is being used experimentally for malignancies of the lung, bladder, esophagus, ovary, colon and eye. For such tumors, light is introduced through the mouth, nose, urethra, rectum and into the eye by lasers using fiber optics. PDT is effective with early tumors and is not usable for cancers which are unreachable by light. Dougherty holds 14 patents, with three patents pending, and is the president and research director of the Oncologic Foundation of Buffalo. He has authored or co-authored some 140 publications and is involved in establishing photochemical medical systems for treatment of diseases other than cancer. Established in 1920 by Ohio State Professor of Physics Thomas C. Mendenhall, the Sullivant Medal offers recognition of notable achievements by alumni or faculty members. Daniel Hillel, Doctor of Science Daniel Hillel, professor of soil physics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, has been a leading force in the ecological development of Israel through his expertise in soil science and arid land management. Hillel received his bachelor of science degree from the University of Georgia in 1950 and a master of science degree from Rutgers University in 1951. A native of California who moved to Israel as a child, Hillel returned to Israel in 1951, where he conducted scientific studies of desert ecology and hydrology. In 1958, he received the first doctorate in soil physics awarded by the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Hillel was appointed head of the Soil and Water Institute of Israel's Agricultural Research Service, where he was instrumental in developing more efficient methods of irrigation and land management. From 1966 to 1974, he served as professor and head of the Department of Soil and Water Services at the Hebrew University. He joined the faculty at the University of Massachusetts in 1977 and in 1991, was named an adjunct professor at Haifa University's Environmental Research Center. Hillel has written or edited 16 books, including Out of the Earth: Civilization and the Life of the Soil, which won a first place award from the American Association of Publishers for excellence in earth sciences and geography, and Rivers of Eden: The Struggle for Water and the Quest for Peace in the Middle East, which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Jeanne Bonnet McCoy, Doctor of Humane Letters Jeanne Bonnet McCoy of Columbus, in her appreciation for education and its benefits, has maintained support for Ohio State for many years. She received her degree in English from Ohio State in 1937. McCoy established the Jeanne Bonnet McCoy Presidential Scholars Fund in 1993 to support exceptional students over their four years at Ohio State. Her gift will allow the university to eventually support a total of eight students and will aid immeasurably in attracting top students to the university. Jeanne McCoy and her husband, John G. McCoy, have supported a wide variety of programs at Ohio State, including medicine, the James Cancer Hospital, and the Historic Costume and Textiles Collection. She is serving as co-chair for Ohio State's National Merit Scholarship Initiative during the current five-year fund- raising campaign. A long-time leader in Central Ohio's arts community, McCoy is a charter member of the Women's Board of the Columbus Museum of Art, and an honorary life member of the Inniswood Garden Society Board. She is a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. Charles Y. Lazarus, Distinguished Service Award Charles Y. Lazarus has long been a loyal and devoted friend of The Ohio State University as a charter member of the Presidents Club, the University Hospitals Board and the James Cancer Hospital Foundation Board. Lazarus, chairman emeritus of F&R Lazarus Co., attended Ohio State and Williams College, graduating in 1936 from Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He holds honorary degrees from Capital University and Ohio Dominican College. Before retiring in 1981, Lazarus served as chairman and chief executive officer of F&R Lazarus, the Columbus retail giant founded by his great-grandfather, Simon Lazarus, in 1851. He began his career as a salesperson in bedding and linens with Lazarus in 1936, working his way up as department manager and division manager before being named executive vice president and CEO in 1969. In 1968, he became a director of the Alumni Advisory Board and served as both a director and chairman of the Ohio State Development Fund Board and the University Hospitals Board. His generosity to the university has encompassed a wide variety of programs, including athletics, medicine, human ecology, social and behavioral sciences, academic affairs, WOSU, and the libraries. He is a lifetime member of the Alumni Association. Colleen Clemens McMurray, Distinguished Service Award Colleen Clemens McMurray, a 1951 graduate of the College of Social Administration (now Social Work), has been a leader in the recruitment and retention of African-American students at Ohio State. McMurray is retired from a long career as a social worker, during which she worked with the Franklin County Juvenile Court, Boys Industrial Correctional Institution, Franklin County Welfare Department, and the State of Ohio Department of Human Services. She has kept close ties to the College of Social Work, serving two three-year terms as the college's representative to the university's Alumni Advisory Council, where she serves on the steering committee. She served on the university's Student Loan Association Board of Trustees for six years. In 1989 she was the Alumni Association's representative on the Alumni Distinguished Teaching Award Committee, and she has also served on the Alumni Association's Awards Selection Committee. As the College of Social Work representative to the Alumni Advisory Council, she is a strong advocate for a curriculum relevant to the 21st century social worker, and she has worked diligently to raise funds for college programs. # Contact: Tracy Turner, University Communications, (614)688-3682. [Submitted by: Von Reid-Vargas (ereid@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu) Tue, 28 Nov 1995 16:23:47 -0500] All documents are the responsibility of their originator.