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Honorary Degree Recipients

Honorary Degree Recipients

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Awards and Honors

  • Andrew J. Rider Scholars
  • Chairperson Leadership Award
  • Distinguished Alumnus/a Award
  • Distinguished Teaching Award
  • Dominick A. Iorio Faculty Research Prize
  • Frank N. Elliott Award
  • Fulbright at Rider University
  • Gordon E. Prichard Award for Volunteer Service
  • Honorary Degree Recipients
  • Longtimers Service Recognition Program
  • Mazzotti Awards for the Development of Women Leaders
  • Nancy Gray Award
  • President's Award
  • President’s Unity and Belonging Award
  • Sadie L. Ziegler-Bernice Gee Award
  • Senior Engaged Learning Award

An honorary degree is the highest accolade the University can bestow on an individual. It is given to honor a person who possesses outstanding qualities and talents, who has made exceptional contributions to the field of his or her endeavor, and who exemplifies the highest standards of personal integrity and civic responsibility.

The following is a list of the distinguished men and women whom we have conferred honorary degrees.

YearHonorary Degree Recipient
1926William H. Compton
1927Harold W. West
Mary A. Hooper
Newton A. K. Bugbee
1928A. Harry Moore
Bernice A. Gee '17
Martin Henry Thomas
Sadie L. Ziegler '09
1929Chauncey DeV. Eversfield
Clair F. Bee Sr.
Francis M. Dowd
Frank A. Souders
1930George R. Gerard
Samuel Sharkey
Willard Schwab
William J. Couse
1931A. Crozer Reeves
Clarence V. Sloan
1932James Noone Connolly
1933George J. Smith
Howard W. Letts
J. Harold Lucas
John F. Meagher
1934Richard W. Elsea
Walter R. Darby
1935Albert Samuel Davis
Carl K. Withers
Walter F. Nutt
1936John A. Campbell
Justine Oakley
1937Christopher A. Gough
Mary T. Norton
William Rodney Holbert
1939A. Harry Moore
Harold Giles Hoffman
James Elliott Mooney
Mildred Montgomery Mooney
1940James Robinson Erwin
Joseph Godfrey Buch
1941David Lloyd Milman
Ida Boffey Bacon
Irwin A. Conroe
1942John Robert Gregg
1943Arthur W. Magee
Colonel Cassius M. Dowell
1944Rear Admiral Charles E. Rosendahl
Thor Thors
Walter E. Edge
William J. Ellis
1945Robert H. Morrison
Thomas Howard Winters
1947Alfred E. Driscoll
Charles P. Messick
Fred Van Deventer
1948Charles E. Murphy
General Edward C. Rose
Harry L. Derby
Lowell Thomas
Prosper Buranelli
1949John H. Bosshart
Theodore R. McKeldin
1950Chester Robbins
Fernando Berckemeyer
Grace A. Dunn
James Albert Michener
Joseph James O'Connell
Louis Kroner
Phillips Moore
W. Paul Stillman
1951Alben W. Barkley
Arthur Godfrey
Delos W. Rentzel
Edmund Harris Kase
John Fairfield Sly
1952Bertha Lawrence
Karl E. Mundt
1953Frederick M. Raubinger
Ivy Baker Priest
1954Earle M. Rader
Homer E. Capehard
Paul Loser
Stanley Switlik
1955Hortense F. Kessler
Robert B. Meyner
Robert W. Van Houten
1956Frederick M. Adams
George R. Hill '32
James E. Van Zandt
1957Alan Bible
H. Alexander Smith
Styles Bridges
1958Elmer H. Bobst
J. Stuart Hill
Major General Bernard A. Schriever
1959Clifford P. Case
Fred G. Holloway
Harold W. West
Joseph W. Crosby
1960James A. McFadden
Thurston Ballard Morton
1961Elmer W. Engstrom
Henry Joseph Parcinskii
Robert William Semenow
1962Frank Thompson Jr.
James P. Stewart
Ossian MacKenzie
1963James Creese
Louis Andrew Leslie
Richard J. Hughes
1964Harold Ray '20
John L. Lincoln
Leland J. Haworth
Leonard A. Olson '30
Mason Welch Gross
1965Byron R. White
Harrison A. Williams Jr.
Walter R. Staub
William J. Baumol
1966George H. Gallup Sr.
Henry Chauncey
Mary G. Roebling
Millard E. Gladfelter
Paul Sanford Lomax
1967Crawford Jamieson
Ernest A. Gross
Frederick Moore Binder
Lindley Joseph Stiles
Virgil W. Gillenwater
1968Edward E. Booher
Peter Jennings
Philip H. Wilkie
Ralph A. Dungan
Rex Warner
Robert E. Slaughter
Robert F. Goheen
1969Henry Lewis
John Anthony Brown
Julia J. Henderson
Robert L. D. Davidson
W. Harmon Wilson
1970Clifford L. Lord
Franklin Frazee Moore '27
Gustav O. Lienhard
Herbert Stein
Max Tishler
Merle Curti
Samuel DeWitt Proctor
1971Andrew W. Cordier
Ernest E. McMahon
James I. McCord
Jerome H. Holland
William T. Cahill
1972Charles E. Zoubek
Edward Kennedy Ellington
Fred M. Hechinger
J. Henry Smith
Joan Sutherland
Richard Bonynge
Terry Sanford
1973James K. Feibleman
Lawrence T. Frymire
Lynn A. Towsend
Philip B. Hofman
Phillipp Schmidt-Schlegel
Shirley Ann Grau
1974Alfred Kracher
Bennetta B. Washington
Bill Moyers
Ethel J. Alpenfels
William E. Stevenson
1975Brendan T. Byrne
Frederick William Ness
Friedrich Niederl
Murray F. Buell
Patricia A. Sheehan
Rolland A. Ritter
Yee Chiang
1976James Kerney Jr.
Paul R. Haas '34
Rise Stevens
Robert W. Kleinert
Thomas C. Cochran
1977Bruce McClellan
Clair F. Bee Sr.
George H. Gallup Jr.
H. Russell Morrison Jr.
Morton Botel
Ruth H. Mancuso
1978Nancy Hanks
Roger Serssions
Sidney E. Mead
Stanley Van Ness
Thomas Samuel Kuhn
William Turnbull
1979Ernest L. Boyer
Fred G. Burke
Lawrence Arthur Cremin
Raymond L. Steen
Richard R. Shinn '38
The Rev. Victor R. Yanitelli S.J
1980Amitai W. Etzioni
Edward Coffin Pomeroy
Helen Stevenson Meyner
Robert A. Beck
1981Donald L. Fruehling
Joseph R. Fink '61
Richard F. Phelps '63, '64
Robert Wiley Miller
Sol M. Linowitz
1982Bill Bradley
Frank J. Hoenemeyer
Lawrence O. Ealy
Maurice B. Sendak
1983Audrey Ronning Topping
Henry J. Heimlich M.D.
Seymour Topping
The Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh
Thomas E. Robinson
1984J. Richardson Dilworth
William E. Simon
1985Chuck Stone
Edward L. Hennessy Jr.
J. Peter Grace
John Brademas
Max DePree
William Olsten
1986Claiborne Pell
Malcolm Stevenson Forbes
Mary Higgins Clark
Norman S. Davis 1908
Ronald W. Bush '65
1987Gregory R. Anrig
Harry Thomas Gamble '52
Herbert A. Tonne
J. W. Marriott Jr.
Sidney Pestka
1988Fairleigh S. Dickinson Jr.
Frank E. Taplin
George Frost Kennan
Millicent Fenwick
1989David S. Broder
Freeman John Dyson
James Edward Cheek
Paul J. Hanna
William M. Polishook
William Mastrosimone '74
1990F. Murray Abraham
General Colin Luther Powell
James J. Florio
Paul Hardin
Vincent E. Hoyer
1991Edward J. Bambach
Helen F. Boehm
1992Frank Lautenberg
Patricia K. Cross
Thomas A. Malloy
1993Mariette Hartley Boyriven
1994Donald Bixby
Frank N. Elliott
Martin Katz
1995Anne Brossman Sweigart '34
Bernard V. Vonderschmitt '81
Christine Todd Whitman
1996Alice Parker
David L. Warren
Susan Polis Schutz '66
Wolfgang Sawallisch
1997Frances Oman Clark
Michael R. Bloomberg
Robert G. Torricelli
Sylvia McNair
The Rev. S. Howard Woodson Jr.
1998John Bertalot
Richard Bilotti
Zdenek Macal
1999Fred Rogers
John Corigliano
Ronald Berman
Rush Holt
2000Arnold Levine
Julius Koppelman
Louise Goss
William Sloane Coffin
2001Corella A. Bonner
James H. Litton
Joan H. Lippincott
Jon S. Corzine
Martin E. Marty
2002George Sharney
James E. McGreevey
Maurice Perilli
Shirley Tilghman
2003Eric F. Wieschaus
Graeme Phelps Schulke
Marion Buckelew Cullen
Robert Page
2004Benita Valente
Douglas H. Palmer
Mark S. Schweiker '83
Peter Gomes
2005Jennifer Larmore
Steven B. Kalafer '71
The Honorable Anne E. Thompson
Weston Noble
2006Joe Torre
Alice Torre
Anthony Tommasini
Allen Crowell
2007James Byer
Yuan Ji
Donald E. Allured
2008The Honorable Deborah T. Poritz
Christy Stephenson '87
2009M. Nathaniel Barnes '77
Anthony Dickson
Gerre Hancock
2010David L. Cohen
Albert McNeil
David Robertson
Thomas Wilfrid
2011Martin L. Perl
Stephen Paulus
Sam A. Solomon '80
2012Aaron Gast
Maureen Maguire '75
Morten Lauridsen
2013John H. Martinson
Paul Plishka
George A. Pruitt
2014Joseph Flummerfelt
Clive Gillinson
Joan C. Mazzotti '72
Howard B. Stoeckel '67
2015Peter Inverso '60
J. Barton Luedeke
Yannick Nezet Sequin
2016Neil B. Friedman
Judith Brodsky
Alan Gilbert
2017Joe Plumeri
Rochelle R. Hendricks
2018Norm Brodsky '64
Allison Vulgamore
2019Barry Bierenbaum ’76
Jazmine Fenlator-Victorian ’07
Donald Nally '87
2022Paul J. Muller
Judith M. Persichilli ’80
2023Lewis Schiff
2024William Rue ’69
Joi Brown
2025The Honorable Andy Kim
Rosephanye Powell, ’87

Compiled by Walter A. Brower, Class of 1948

Awards and Honors

  • Andrew J. Rider Scholars
  • Chairperson Leadership Award
  • Distinguished Alumnus/a Award
  • Distinguished Teaching Award
  • Dominick A. Iorio Faculty Research Prize
  • Frank N. Elliott Award
  • Fulbright at Rider University
  • Gordon E. Prichard Award for Volunteer Service
  • Honorary Degree Recipients
  • Longtimers Service Recognition Program
  • Mazzotti Awards for the Development of Women Leaders
  • Nancy Gray Award
  • President's Award
  • President’s Unity and Belonging Award
  • Sadie L. Ziegler-Bernice Gee Award
  • Senior Engaged Learning Award
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Lawrenceville, NJ 08648

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