REUNION WEEKEND
Distinguished Alumni Awards Program The anchor event of Reunion Weekend celebrated the accomplishments of three very special members of the Kinkaid community—Distinguished Honorary Alumnus Stewart "Chip" Cureton Jr., Distinguished Young Alumnus Eric Ladin '97 and Distinguished Alumnus Dr. William Blattner '62.
The evening began with a short welcome from Don North along with the introduction of the Distinguished Honorary Alumnus, Stewart "Chip" Cureton Jr. Chip was born in Santa Cruz, California and attended public schools. He graduated from Stanford University with an A.B. degree in history in 1967. He was in the Navy for three years, serving two tours of duty in Vietnam where he received a field promotion to lieutenant. He received an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1973. Chip joined in the corporate finance department of Rotan Mosle Inc. in 1973 and, in 1978, he founded an investment banking firm, Cureton & Co., where he worked until 1999 when he joined GulfStar Group, also an investment banking firm. Chip has been active in the community, having served on the boards of a number of non-profit organizations as well as chairing the Boards of YES Prep Public Schools and Teach for America-Houston. He has been a member of the Kinkaid Board since 1986, was Chair from 1993 to 1995, and is currently a Life Trustee. Chip is also married to Lana Lee Cureton '63 and has two sons Peter '92 and Cameron '96.
“I have the highest regard for Kinkaid alums. The board used to get a report after the Kinkaid graduates’ first year in college. And as often as not students grades were as high or higher after their freshman year in college. That is thorough preparation." — Stewart "Chip" Cureton Jr. Following Chip's speech, Chip Stanberry '62 introduced his friend and classmate, Dr. William Blattner '62, the 2012 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient. Dr. Blattner gave an inspirational talk about his life at Kinkaid and how his early experiences helped shape his career. Bill entered Kinkaid in third grade and graduated in 1962. He attended Beloit College in Wisconsin for one year before transferring to Washington University where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a
PHOTO COURTESY OF DAVID SHUTTS ’74
More than 200 alumni, trustees, parents and faculty members attended the party, which began with speeches from the award winners and ended with catering and cocktails by Kinkaid’s resident culinary genius Mark Harris. The festivities marked an evening to remember and set the bar high for next year!
Headmaster Don North with the Distinguished Alumni winners Eric Ladin ’97, Stewart "Chip" Cureton Jr. and Dr. William Blattner ’62
major in English. He attended Washington University School of Medicine and graduate Alpha Omega Alpha. He did Internal Medicine training at Strong Memorial Hospital at University of Rochester School of Medicine and at New York Hospital, Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City. He enlisted in the Public Health Service in 1973 where he commenced a 22 year career of research and retired as a Captain in 1995. During his tenure at the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, the nation’s premier medical research facility in Bethesda Maryland, Dr. Blattner made ground breaking discoveries that have impacted the health of the world.
“During my freshman-sophomore years at Kinkaid two indelible events impacted my life – On an errand with my Dad at my grandfather’s funeral in St. Louis, we observed a car jump the curb and slam a young woman at a bus stop to the ground. My dad, the medical founder of Texas Children’s Hospital seeing the girl dying on the sidewalk, stopped and ordering a metal spoon from the adjacent restaurant pried open her mouth and scooped out a blood clot that was choking the girl. He then rode in the ambulance with her to Barnes Hospital where her life was saved – she subsequently became a Roman Catholic nun in service to mankind. That experience influenced my decision to become a physician.” — Dr. William Blattner ’62
“I want to thank those Kinkaid teachers who shaped me as a person, and the principles of “character” that guided my life’s journey. I know that Kinkaid will continue to be a well spring of dedicated servants to the well-being of others shaped by the virtues of honesty, respect, responsibility, and kindness.” — Dr. William Blattner ’62 Most notably he was a member of the team led by Dr. Robert C. Gallo credited with the co-discovery of the virus, Human Immunodeficiency Virus, the cause of AIDS. Among his 444 research articles and book chapters are seminal papers that documented the sensitivity of the HIV blood test that has saved millions of lives worldwide and is a key public health tool for treatment and prevention. His studies also quantified the high attack rate for life threatening AIDS of those infected. Recently he has guided a public health program in Nigeria West Africa funded by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief that provided lifesaving treatment to 139,000 and services to 944,004 and targets those most-at-risk to link treatment as prevention. He has also pioneered research to define the role of the Human T-cell Leukemia Virus (HTLV) in the causation of some forms of leukemia. In 1995, Dr. Blattner joined Dr. Gallo and Dr. Robert R. Redfield to cofound the Institute of Human Virology at the School of Medicine, University of Maryland that has emerged over the last 17 years as the 33