2003 ACS Award

Maxwell H. Connan, E 1939
Gloria Connan, HA 1991

Maxwell (Mac) and Gloria Connan were selected as the 2003 Andrew Carnegie Society Recognition Award recipients because of the extraordinary relationship with Carnegie Mellon they shared for more than 60 years. Throughout those years, they demonstrated a boundless and enthusiastic commitment to the university.

Mac, who died in 2003, leaves quite a legacy to us. While living in New York in the early 1970s, Mac, along with James Taylor (E 1940) and Henry Lehne (E 1937), strove to create a leadership giving organization to support the university. The result was the original group of 21 alumni who founded the Andrew Carnegie Society in 1972.

Mac and Gloria, who holds honorary alumna status, provided a remarkable model of volunteerism to the university, taking active roles in previous capital campaigns, attending countless events on campus, and co-hosting many President’s Weekends to build relationships with key supporters.

Mac served as a Carnegie Mellon Trustee for 35 years and as an Emeritus Life Trustee. He had been a member of numerous college and department advisory committees and was a past president of both the Carnegie Mellon Alumni Association and the Andrew Carnegie Society. Also, Mac and Gloria were involved with the Academy for Lifelong Learning since its inception in 1992.

The couple made many generous leadership gifts to the university, including donating the Connan Room in the University Center, endowing the Maxwell H. and Gloria Connan Scholarship Fund to provide aid to biotechnology students, and contributing a planned gift to fund an endowed professorship in the life sciences.

Their children are Andrew, Diana Forgy, a Carnegie Mellon alumna, and Frederic. After retiring as president of Connan Industrial Properties, Mac became an avid portrait and landscape artist.

The Andrew Carnegie Society is forever in the debt of Mac and Gloria for their generosity, inspiration, leadership and untiring dedication to Carnegie Mellon.