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Harry George, Four Others Receive Honorary UA Degrees (L to R) Harry George, UA Eller College Dean Len Jessup, UA President Eugene Sander
By David Pittman
The University of Arizona awarded honorary degrees to entrepreneur and venture capitalist Harry A. George and four other outstanding leaders during a commencement ceremony for master’s and doctoral students at McKale Center in May. George, who has nearly 40 years of experience in creating, operating and investing in successful rapid-growth technology companies, received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the UA Eller College of Management. He has worked as a director of 26 public and private companies and is currently director and chairman of High Throughput Genomics. He is among the founders of Tucson’s Desert Angels and has been active with the Arizona Venture Capital Conference, now known as Invest SW. In 1995, he co-founded Solstice Capital, a venture capital fund that invests in early-stage life science and technology firms. Solstice Capital has invested tens of millions of dollars in 44 companies since its inception. From 1981 to 1989, George was involved as co-founder, director and VP for Interleaf, a pioneer business in the field of electronic publishing. In January 2000, Interleaf, valued at about $1 billion at the time, was absorbed by Broadvision. Prior to his involvement in Interleaf, George was a co-found-
er, director and VP for Kurzweil Computer Products, which was purchased by Xerox Imaging Systems in 1980. In addition to George, the following were recognized with honorary degrees: • Sergio Assad, a world-renowned classical guitarist, composer and teacher who has significantly impacted modern classical guitar. • Emily Meschter, who after a successful career in finance on Wall Street, has built a distinguished record as a philanthropist and supporter of education in Southern Arizona. The Emily Meschter Early Learning Center in Flowing Wells Unified School District is dedicated to Meschter for her contributions. • Brian P. Schmidt, a UA alumnus and distinguished professor and laureate fellow at Australian National University, who won a Nobel Prize in Physics in 2011 for his work measuring the change in the rate of expansion of the universe. • Margaret Wilch, a UA master’s degree graduate who worked as a biology teacher at Tucson High Magnet School for 20 years. Among her accomplishments was teaching honors research methods, a year-long course in which students did authentic scientific research, often in UA labs.
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Summer 2012 > > > BizTucson 131