1941
Dick Gelb
R
ichard Gelb was a talented javelin thrower on Andover’s 1941 varsity spring track team. Seven years later—after entering Yale, three years of military service during World War II, and then returning to Yale—he finished sixth in the NCAA for javelin and 10th in the 1948 U.S. Olympic Trials. Gelb graduated from Yale in 1948 and earned a master’s degree from Harvard Business School in 1950. After graduation, he worked at Clairol, a cosmetics company founded by his parents, and became president. When Clairol was acquired by Bristol-Myers in 1959, he stayed on as president of Clairol, eventually becoming president and then, in 1972, CEO of Bristol-Myers. Gelb retired from his leadership posts in the mid-1990s but continued to consult for the company. An Andover charter trustee from 1976 to 1994, Gelb was a member of the Alumni Council and the Executive Committee of
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the Andover Development Board as well as honorary vice chair of Campaign Andover. In 1999, he donated one of the largest gifts ever received by the Academy for the construction of the Gelb Science Center, which replaced Evans Hall. Gelb passed away in 2004, several months prior to its dedication. He was the father of Larry Gelb ’69 and grandfather of Emily Gelb ’05. Gelb served on the boards of the New York Times, Lincoln Center of the Performing Arts, Council on Foreign Relations, and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, among others. Fascinated by police work, Gelb helped initiate the New York City Police Foundation. In 2003, he received Yale’s George H.W. Bush Lifetime of Leadership Award. “Dick Gelb was a man of dignity, integrity, and commitment,” said former Andover head of school Barbara Landis Chase. “I will miss his wisdom and his counsel, and Andover will miss a generous, loyal alumnus.”
1941 track team: Gelb is front row, fourth from left. 5