Commencement Awards

FOUR RECEIVE SPECIAL COMMENCEMENT HONORS AT OHIO STATE

     COLUMBUS -- The contributions of four men were recognized
with special honors during The Ohio State University's spring
quarter commencement ceremonies June 10 in Ohio Stadium.

     Honorary doctorates were presented to Columbus businessman
John B. Gerlach and to U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Damon
J. Keith of Detroit.

     The Distinguished Service Award was presented to Ralph
Howard of Marion, a long-time supporter of the Marion regional
campus, and to the late Roy M. Kottman, vice president and dean
for agriculture emeritus.

       John B. Gerlach, Doctor of Business Administration

     John B. "Bernie" Gerlach, is president and director of
Lancaster Colony Corp., a diverse manufacturer and marketer of
specialty foods, automotive accessories, glass and candles, which
he founded with his father in 1961.  He is also a partner in the
public accounting firm of John Gerlach & Co.

     A charter member and current chair of The Ohio State
University Foundation Board, the university's primary fund-
raising arm, Gerlach served as chairperson of the Columbus
Regional Campaign in the successful 1985-90 university campaign.
The Columbus Campaign raised more than $178 million.  He was also
a leader in campaigns for the colleges of Human Ecology,
Business, Arts, and Education, the James Cancer Hospital and the
Wexner Center for the Arts.  He secured matching funds for the
Presidential Young Investigators program in 1989 and continues to
promote that program, which recognizes outstanding young faculty
researchers.

     In 1982, he established the John J. Gerlach Chair in
Accounting in honor of his father, and he has been a generous
supporter of intercollegiate athletics.

     Recognized by his peers for his business acumen, he has
received a number of awards, including membership in the Central
Ohio Business Hall of Fame.  He is a recipient of Ohio State's
Distinguished Service Award and the Alumni Association's Ralph
Davenport Mershon Award.

     An active community leader, Gerlach currently serves on
numerous boards, including those of Riverside Methodist Hospitals
and the Columbus Symphony Orchestra.  He is chairman of the board
of the Columbus Foundation.

     He attended Ohio State's College of Commerce (now the Fisher
College of Business) from 1945-47 and received his Bachelor of
Science in Business Administration degree from Ohio University in
1949.

                 Damon J. Keith, Doctor of Laws
                                
     As one of America's best known and most respected African-
American jurists, Damon Keith has long been a champion of equal
justice under the law.

     He was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth
Circuit in 1977.  For the preceding 10 years he was a judge of
the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan,
serving as chief justice from 1975-77.

     A graduate of West Virginia State University and Howard
University Law School, Keith also holds the L.L.M. degree from
Wayne State University School of Law.  All three of his alma
maters, as well as 22 other universities, have recognized his
legal contributions by awarding him honorary doctoral degrees.

     Among his most noted opinions are his 1972 ruling in United
States vs. Sinclair (also known as the "Keith decision") in which
he ruled that President Richard Nixon and Attorney General John
Mitchell were constitutionally prohibited from wiretapping the
residence of a political dissident unless a warrant was issued,
and a 1977 affirmative action ruling in which he held that the
Detroit Police Department could make race-conscious promotions to
help remedy the effects of past discrimination.

     For 21 consecutive years, Keith has been named one of the
"100 Most Influential Black Americans" by Ebony magazine.  His
numerous other awards include the NAACP Spingard Medal, the Equal
Justice Award of the National Bar Association, the Judge of the
Year Award from the National Conference of Black Lawyers.  He was
Ohio State's autumn quarter 1993 commencement speaker.

     Last year, the Damon J. Keith Law Collection was established
at Wayne State University in Detroit.  The first of its kind, the
collection brings together the historical accomplishments of
African-American lawyers and judges in a central depository of
more than 100 years of records, documents, photographs, personal
papers and memorabilia.

          Ralph W. Howard, Distinguished Service Award

     Ralph W. Howard was instrumental in founding The Ohio State
University at Marion, and he remains an active supporter of the
regional campus today.

     A lifelong resident of the Marion area, Howard received his
law degree from Ohio State in 1948 following service in the U.S.
Army Air Corps during World War II.  He returned to Marion to
practice corporate and taxation law.

     Long active with the Ohio State University Alumni
Association, Howard was one of eight founders of Ohio State
Marion, which began offering classes in 1957.  He served as
chairman of the Steering Solicitation Committee of the Marion
Area Campus Development Fund, which raised more than $600,000 in
three weeks toward the purchase and development of a permanent
Marion campus.

     He is a charter member and first president of The Ohio State
University at Marion Citizens Advisory Council and is one of only
four to be elected to lifetime membership in that group.  He is
also the recipient of the Ohio State Marion Founders' Award.  His
long history of volunteerism and support of the Marion campus was
honored when the 1985 Student Recognition Program was dedicated
to him.

     Active in numerous community projects, Howard has served on
the Marion City Board of Education, as chairman-secretary of the
Marion General Hospital Board of Directors, as general campaign
chairman and president of the United Way of Marion County,
president of the Marion YMCA, and in many other positions.

     His many honors include the Marion County Outstanding
Citizen Award, the Marion County United Way Service Award, the
Rotary International Oscar Award, and the Ohio State Bar
Foundation Fellow.

           Roy M. Kottman, Distinguished Service Award

     For more than 34 years, Roy M. Kottman embodied the voice
and vision of agriculture in Ohio.

     Kottman, vice president and executive dean for agriculture
emeritus at Ohio State, retired from Ohio State in 1982 but
remained active in a part-time position with the Ohio State
University Development Fund until his recent death on June 4.

     He came to Ohio State in 1960 as dean of the College of
Agriculture and Home Economics and director of the Ohio
Agricultural Research and Development Center.  He also served as
director of the Ohio Cooperative Extension Service from 1964 to
1982.  He held the rank of professor of animal science throughout
the 22 years that he served as chief administrative officer in
the college.

     Kottman founded the Farm Science Review, Ohio's showcase of
new agricultural technology.  He was instrumental in establishing
Ohio State's Agricultural Technical Institute, School of Natural
Resources, College of Biological Sciences, and College of Human
Ecology.

     Aided by his efforts, 15 buildings were constructed on Ohio
State's Columbus campus and OARDC's Wooster campus, funded in
part by the state legislature.  Ohio State's agronomy, natural
resources and plant pathology building is named Roy M. Kottman
Hall.

     A native of Iowa, Kottman earned a B.S. in animal science
from Iowa State University, an M.S. in genetics from the
University of Wisconsin, and a Ph.D. in animal breeding from Iowa
State.

                                #

Contact: Ruth Gerstner, University Communications, (614) 292-8424


[Submitted by: REIDV  (reidv@ccgate.ucomm.ohio-state.edu)
               
Fri, 10 Jun 1994 11:10:02 -0500 (EST)]
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