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davis_squareTom Champion sent this to me and asked me to post it here. Everyone here is invited to attend.
To: All Staff & Faculty
From: externalaffairs_events@ksg.harvard.edu
Subject: A Special Invitation from Dean David Ellwood to Attend the Hale Champion Memorial on Sunday, October 5
We were all saddened, in April, by the loss of Hale Champion, former HKS Executive Dean, and lecturer, and long-time member of the Kennedy School community. I am writing now to let you know that we will gather for a celebration of Hale's life on Sunday, October 5 from 2:30 PM - 4:00 PM in the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum. A reception will follow in Malkin Penthouse. The John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum and the Malkin Penthouse are located at 79 JFK Street at the Harvard Kennedy School in Cambridge, MA.
Hale's impressive career spanned not only academia, but also senior positions in federal, state and local government, in philanthropy and in journalism. On October 5, we will hear from some of the many friends, students and colleagues who were touched by his energy, insight, and warmth. Scheduled speakers include former HEW Secretary Joseph A. Califano, Jr., Kaiser Family Foundation President Drew Altman and San Francisco Chronicle Science Editor David Perlman.
Please RSVP to externalaffairs_events@ksg.harvard.edu if you will be able to join us on October 5 for this important event.
Warmly,
David T. Ellwood
Although the invite says "All Faculty and Staff" the event is free and open to any interested members of the public. Although it is not a political event, and although I'd be very surprised if any DSLJ members actually knew my [Tom's] father, the program may be of interest to anyone with an affinity for public policy and recent American political history. It should be a fairly large event, but there's plenty of room in the forum to accommodate more (although people should RSVP).
I've gone back and forth on this, and I apologize for the short notice, but in the end, I decided to pass it along.
If you are at all hesitant for any reason, or think it's off-topic, I will quite understand.
Here's a brief bio of my father:
Hale Champion
1922-2008
Hale Champion, a government and academic professional who held senior positions at the local, state and federal levels as well as serving Harvard University as Financial Vice President and as the first Executive Dean of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, died April 23rd in Cambridge at the age of 85. His half-century of public service included terms as Undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Health Education and Welfare (1977-9), Director of Finance for the State of California (1961-7), Chief Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (1988-9), Director of the Boston Redevelopment Authority (1968-9) and Chairman of the Kaiser Family Foundation (1990-2).
Born in Coldwater, Michigan on August 27, 1922, he entered the University of Michigan in 1939 intending a career as a writer and, by his junior year, had become editor of the Michigan Daily newspaper. An early advocate of U.S. engagement in the war against Nazi Germany, he editorialized strongly and controversially in favor of intervention even before Pearl Harbor. He dropped out of college in 1942 to enlist in the U.S. Army, ultimately serving in France in military government and civil affairs. Rising to the rank of sergeant, he refused an officer’s commission in order to obtain an earlier discharge from military service in 1945. He returned to the mid-west to work as a reporter for the United Press and the Milwaukee Journal, where he also became a lifelong supporter of organized labor beginning with his service as the Newspaper Guild’s Journal representative. He moved to Washington D.C. to serve as an aide (1949-50) to Congressman Andrew Biemiller of Wisconsin before deciding to relocate to California, where he worked briefly for the Sacramento Bee.
A small legacy from his grandfather combined with his GI Bill educational benefits allowed him to complete his undergraduate work at Stanford University, where he also met and married Marie Ozine Tifft of Westfield New Jersey, who was completing her master’s degree in education after graduating from Wellesley College in 1948. After their graduation in 1952 (he earned a BA in English), they married and Champion went to work for the San Francisco Chronicle (1952-8), where he supplanted his reporter’s salary by writing for such periodicals as The Reporter and by producing local pubic affairs programming for KQED TV. In 1956-7, he came to Harvard for a year as the recipient of a Nieman Fellowship in Journalism, returning to San Francisco as a public affairs and political reporter. After covering the 1958 California Governor’s race, he was hired by newly-elected Edmund G. “Pat” Brown to serve as press secretary. Brown steadily increased Champion’s level of responsibility in state government, promoting him to Director of Finance in 1961. As finance director, Champion played a central role in the development of massive education, transportation and water development projects that provided California with much of the basic infrastructure that has supported the state’s economy ever since (1961-7).
In 1965, fugitive murderers and prison escapees from Oregon who were attempting to reach the Mexican border broke into Champion’s Sacramento home (selected entirely at random) and took Champion, his wife and infant daughter hostage. The criminals took Champion’s car in an attempt to transport themselves and their hostages to Mexico, but detoured to Nevada where they were ultimately apprehended. The kidnappers did not injure Champion or his family, but Champion received an accidental gunshot wound to the leg when a Nevada vigilante fired at the fugitives as they drove through the town of Tonopah.
After Brown’s defeat by Ronald Reagan in the 1966 gubernatorial election, Champion accepted another invitation to Harvard, this time as a Kennedy Fellow at the Institute of Politics. While at Harvard, he was recruited by Kevin H. White, the then newly-elected Mayor of Boston, to succeed Ed Logue as Director of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, where he oversaw the planning and development of several key projects that continue to shape the face of the city – most notably the transformation of Quincy Market from a moribund warehouse district to a vibrant commercial and tourism center (1968-9).
When White decide to run for Governor in 1970, Champion took an offer to serve as the Executive Vice President of the entire five-campus University of Minnesota system, whose main Minneapolis campus then ranked as the largest single university campus in the nation (1969-71). After 2½ years in Minnesota, he returned to Cambridge at the behest of President Derek Bok to become Harvard University’s Vice President for Financial Affairs (1971-77).
A lifelong activist Democrat, Champion played pivotal roles in Pat Brown’s campaign’s against Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. In 1976, he backed Morris Udall for the Democratic presidential nomination, providing both policy advice and fundraising support. When Jimmy Carter was elected President, Champion neither expected nor sought employment under the Carter administration, so he was surprised to be approached during the transition by Joseph A. Califano, the newly-appointed Secretary of Health Education and Welfare. Califano persuaded Champion to the take the post of HEW Undersecretary (1977-79).
Returning to Harvard as the first Executive Dean of the John F. Kennedy School of Government (1979-88), Champion also served as Chief Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (1988-9) under Governor Michael S. Dukakis, who asked him to manage state government while Dukakis campaigned in the U.S. Presidential election. From 1990 to his retirement five years later, Champion continued to teach at Harvard as a Lecturer in Public Policy and was best known for a course on governmental management techniques entitled “The Public Manager’s Trade.”
In 1984, Champion had also been named as trustee of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, and he went on to serve as the Foundation’s chairman from 1990 to 1992 at a time when the organization greatly expanded its efforts to improve the quality of public information about health care policy and issues in the United States while also developing a major initiative to assist in the development of a nascent public health care system in South Africa.
Throughout his career, Hale Champion believed in, and embodied, the principle that government could be an effective tool to achieve large-scale change and protect the public interest. He frankly despised the Reagan-era mantra that “government is the problem, not the solution,” believing that governmental policy empowered by a vigorous democratic system was the only appropriate and viable response to the largest challenges faced by nations and their citizens.
He also believed that governmental programs and policies should, as a first principle, promote opportunities, provide resources and improve the lives of those who had the least and who needed the most help. As Joseph Califano observed at the time of Champion’s death, “ He knew that on the scales of government, the sum belonged on the side of the vulnerable. Hale had a sense he should spend the talents he had on people who needed help.”
To: All Staff & Faculty
From: externalaffairs_events@ksg.harvard.edu
Subject: A Special Invitation from Dean David Ellwood to Attend the Hale Champion Memorial on Sunday, October 5
We were all saddened, in April, by the loss of Hale Champion, former HKS Executive Dean, and lecturer, and long-time member of the Kennedy School community. I am writing now to let you know that we will gather for a celebration of Hale's life on Sunday, October 5 from 2:30 PM - 4:00 PM in the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum. A reception will follow in Malkin Penthouse. The John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum and the Malkin Penthouse are located at 79 JFK Street at the Harvard Kennedy School in Cambridge, MA.
Hale's impressive career spanned not only academia, but also senior positions in federal, state and local government, in philanthropy and in journalism. On October 5, we will hear from some of the many friends, students and colleagues who were touched by his energy, insight, and warmth. Scheduled speakers include former HEW Secretary Joseph A. Califano, Jr., Kaiser Family Foundation President Drew Altman and San Francisco Chronicle Science Editor David Perlman.
Please RSVP to externalaffairs_events@ksg.harvard.edu if you will be able to join us on October 5 for this important event.
Warmly,
David T. Ellwood
Although the invite says "All Faculty and Staff" the event is free and open to any interested members of the public. Although it is not a political event, and although I'd be very surprised if any DSLJ members actually knew my [Tom's] father, the program may be of interest to anyone with an affinity for public policy and recent American political history. It should be a fairly large event, but there's plenty of room in the forum to accommodate more (although people should RSVP).
I've gone back and forth on this, and I apologize for the short notice, but in the end, I decided to pass it along.
If you are at all hesitant for any reason, or think it's off-topic, I will quite understand.
Here's a brief bio of my father:
Hale Champion
1922-2008
Hale Champion, a government and academic professional who held senior positions at the local, state and federal levels as well as serving Harvard University as Financial Vice President and as the first Executive Dean of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, died April 23rd in Cambridge at the age of 85. His half-century of public service included terms as Undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Health Education and Welfare (1977-9), Director of Finance for the State of California (1961-7), Chief Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (1988-9), Director of the Boston Redevelopment Authority (1968-9) and Chairman of the Kaiser Family Foundation (1990-2).
Born in Coldwater, Michigan on August 27, 1922, he entered the University of Michigan in 1939 intending a career as a writer and, by his junior year, had become editor of the Michigan Daily newspaper. An early advocate of U.S. engagement in the war against Nazi Germany, he editorialized strongly and controversially in favor of intervention even before Pearl Harbor. He dropped out of college in 1942 to enlist in the U.S. Army, ultimately serving in France in military government and civil affairs. Rising to the rank of sergeant, he refused an officer’s commission in order to obtain an earlier discharge from military service in 1945. He returned to the mid-west to work as a reporter for the United Press and the Milwaukee Journal, where he also became a lifelong supporter of organized labor beginning with his service as the Newspaper Guild’s Journal representative. He moved to Washington D.C. to serve as an aide (1949-50) to Congressman Andrew Biemiller of Wisconsin before deciding to relocate to California, where he worked briefly for the Sacramento Bee.
A small legacy from his grandfather combined with his GI Bill educational benefits allowed him to complete his undergraduate work at Stanford University, where he also met and married Marie Ozine Tifft of Westfield New Jersey, who was completing her master’s degree in education after graduating from Wellesley College in 1948. After their graduation in 1952 (he earned a BA in English), they married and Champion went to work for the San Francisco Chronicle (1952-8), where he supplanted his reporter’s salary by writing for such periodicals as The Reporter and by producing local pubic affairs programming for KQED TV. In 1956-7, he came to Harvard for a year as the recipient of a Nieman Fellowship in Journalism, returning to San Francisco as a public affairs and political reporter. After covering the 1958 California Governor’s race, he was hired by newly-elected Edmund G. “Pat” Brown to serve as press secretary. Brown steadily increased Champion’s level of responsibility in state government, promoting him to Director of Finance in 1961. As finance director, Champion played a central role in the development of massive education, transportation and water development projects that provided California with much of the basic infrastructure that has supported the state’s economy ever since (1961-7).
In 1965, fugitive murderers and prison escapees from Oregon who were attempting to reach the Mexican border broke into Champion’s Sacramento home (selected entirely at random) and took Champion, his wife and infant daughter hostage. The criminals took Champion’s car in an attempt to transport themselves and their hostages to Mexico, but detoured to Nevada where they were ultimately apprehended. The kidnappers did not injure Champion or his family, but Champion received an accidental gunshot wound to the leg when a Nevada vigilante fired at the fugitives as they drove through the town of Tonopah.
After Brown’s defeat by Ronald Reagan in the 1966 gubernatorial election, Champion accepted another invitation to Harvard, this time as a Kennedy Fellow at the Institute of Politics. While at Harvard, he was recruited by Kevin H. White, the then newly-elected Mayor of Boston, to succeed Ed Logue as Director of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, where he oversaw the planning and development of several key projects that continue to shape the face of the city – most notably the transformation of Quincy Market from a moribund warehouse district to a vibrant commercial and tourism center (1968-9).
When White decide to run for Governor in 1970, Champion took an offer to serve as the Executive Vice President of the entire five-campus University of Minnesota system, whose main Minneapolis campus then ranked as the largest single university campus in the nation (1969-71). After 2½ years in Minnesota, he returned to Cambridge at the behest of President Derek Bok to become Harvard University’s Vice President for Financial Affairs (1971-77).
A lifelong activist Democrat, Champion played pivotal roles in Pat Brown’s campaign’s against Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. In 1976, he backed Morris Udall for the Democratic presidential nomination, providing both policy advice and fundraising support. When Jimmy Carter was elected President, Champion neither expected nor sought employment under the Carter administration, so he was surprised to be approached during the transition by Joseph A. Califano, the newly-appointed Secretary of Health Education and Welfare. Califano persuaded Champion to the take the post of HEW Undersecretary (1977-79).
Returning to Harvard as the first Executive Dean of the John F. Kennedy School of Government (1979-88), Champion also served as Chief Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (1988-9) under Governor Michael S. Dukakis, who asked him to manage state government while Dukakis campaigned in the U.S. Presidential election. From 1990 to his retirement five years later, Champion continued to teach at Harvard as a Lecturer in Public Policy and was best known for a course on governmental management techniques entitled “The Public Manager’s Trade.”
In 1984, Champion had also been named as trustee of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, and he went on to serve as the Foundation’s chairman from 1990 to 1992 at a time when the organization greatly expanded its efforts to improve the quality of public information about health care policy and issues in the United States while also developing a major initiative to assist in the development of a nascent public health care system in South Africa.
Throughout his career, Hale Champion believed in, and embodied, the principle that government could be an effective tool to achieve large-scale change and protect the public interest. He frankly despised the Reagan-era mantra that “government is the problem, not the solution,” believing that governmental policy empowered by a vigorous democratic system was the only appropriate and viable response to the largest challenges faced by nations and their citizens.
He also believed that governmental programs and policies should, as a first principle, promote opportunities, provide resources and improve the lives of those who had the least and who needed the most help. As Joseph Califano observed at the time of Champion’s death, “ He knew that on the scales of government, the sum belonged on the side of the vulnerable. Hale had a sense he should spend the talents he had on people who needed help.”
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Date: 2008-10-02 01:53 am (UTC)