I can imagine Zoltan J. Acs waking up one recent morning to read the news that Harvard has embarked on a history making capital campaign to raise $6.5 billion by 2018 with almost half of that being targeted for university based research and development. “The Harvard campaign is critical to the university’s ability to fund important priorities going forward, but it is also an opportunity to redefine Harvard and higher education more broadly.”  This is in addition to Stanford’s successful $6.23 billion campaign.   “To remain competitive, universities have to launch campaigns like this,” said Roger Benjamin, president of the Council for Aid to Education, a New York nonprofit organization that…

When my father died last year right before the conference I was named the executor of the estate.  Like many executors before me, I had read some articles, browsed through a book and made a file on what my responsibilities were.  Frankly, I didn’t pay much attention because the day was always going to be a little further away.  So, even though I had a file and some basics in mind none of that prepared me for the actual work required of me for the next full year.  I expected a certain amount of paperwork, certificate copying, distribution of assets, tedious legal process, a quick cruise through probate and a…

He sat down, paused before he spoke and then said, “It’s too much for me to give thanks. I cannot be thankful for this.  I will never be thankful for this.” He and his wife had lost their son and someone with the best of intentions had quoted Paul’s instructions to the church in Thessalonika, “Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” Then was not the time to say, “Paul did not say be thankful for everything – but thankful in everything.”  Yet, that is what I thought about for days afterwards.  Paul says, literally, eucharisto, in everything and in…

We came to Tyler 30 years ago.  Not long after we arrived, I had the privilege to meet and know men and women who had carried public and charitable responsibility in this community for a long time and did so until they died. Men like James and Wilton Fair. I don’t know if all of them would have described it this way but to me they had a call to this community.  They had wealth and they had an ingrained sense of caring for others. They had allowed this community to have a claim on their lives.  Allowing others to have a claim on your life is what money is…

I seriously thought about starting this introduction with “In the beginning there was Roberta” but realized the better part of that line had been taken.  However, it would still be true in that Howard and Roberta have been a part of The Gathering from the very beginning.  It was long before she was on the cover of magazines or asked to give distinguished lectures on art, architecture, culture and beauty.  She was candid and outspoken in her many opinions about everything.  Some chalked that up to her marrying into wealth that allowed her to say things she might not have said earlier.  They were wrong.  She’s always said what she…

Tribute to my mother. This week I was in East Tennessee or what we know as Appalachia.  It has been from the beginning one of the poorest parts of our country. In fact, it is actually famous for its poverty. My mother, Mary Alice Swann, was born in Smith County, Tennessee in the same town as Al Gore. Their stories could not have been more different. My mother’s family were, as we say, dirt poor. Until they moved to Nashville they lived in a shack with a wood burning stove and an outhouse. My grandfather Pap was a house painter and a hopeless alcoholic. My grandmother was hard because she…

Being asked by the family to offer these words is a gift not unlike welcoming my own children into the world. I feel as if I have been handed the precious life of Elizabeth for a moment and been honored to hold and care for her briefly as if she were my own – and then will hand her back to her family and to God. In John 12:24 Jesus says, “Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over.…

It is not often I have the opportunity to introduce someone for whom I care as much as I do Sasha. I can think of few people who years ago were less likely to be honored here tonight than Sasha. It’s not the honor that surprises me because by the arc of her life from an early age you would know she would lead a life worth honoring. It’s not the honor but our good fortune in her being here to receive it. What are the odds that a young girl speaking no English moving from place to place would find her way to this community in America so many…

Our conversation started me reflecting on the way we thought about our work when Fourth Partner was doing grantmaking.  There are two illustrations of that and, ironically, both are related to our work with Hispanics.  The Hispanic Business Alliance was the result of my being upset with Steve Murdock’s report to the Chamber of Commerce about Hispanic immigration. The Mayor’s COOL program came out of an experience I had with a guidance counselor at Lee who was surprised when I asked her how many Hispanic students were going on to college.  She admitted they did very little counseling with minorities and were pretty much content to send everyone they could…

James Howard Parnell was born September 28, 1954 in Tyler to Joe Esther and Ruth Chance Parnell. Jim died on October 6, 2012 at 58 years of age. He was married to Lynn Hamilton Parnell for thirty-six years. He is survived by his four older brothers – Pete Parnell and wife Ann, Joe Parnell, David Parnell and wife Shirley, Dennis Parnell and wife Dawn. His in-laws Sam and Mary Hamilton; brothers-in-law, John Hamilton and wife Cindy as well as Dan Hamilton and wife Stacy and many nieces and nephews and extended family members. Jim was a 1973 graduate of John Tyler High School and employed by Hamilton Supply for twenty-seven…